Thoughts on the Huron Carol from Stz’uminus Elder Daniel R. Elliott
- lanikrantz
- Nov 29, 2025
- 2 min read
This year’s Winter Harp show opens with a winter salutation written by Stz’uminus elder and artist Daniel R. Elliott of Nanaimo. A longtime friend of Winter Harp Artistic Director Lori Pappajohn, the two recently got into a conversation about the Huron Carol and its relevance today as Winter Harp is performing a modified version of it.
In the 1600s, a Jesuit missionary in eastern Canada took a secular tune and put Christmas lyrics to it in the Wendat language to make the song relevant to the First Nations. It is considered one of Canada's oldest carols.
Lori wanted Daniel’s opinion on using the melody but with new winter lyrics she had written. A musician himself, Daniel was enthusiastic. “I have many times thought of those First Nations children singing the beautiful Huron (Wendat) Carol in extreme adverse, unspeakable conditions with their voices being carried into the winter sky. For me, this carol transcends language and time. It permeates in our very soul. I love the fact that music rises above all else.
“A black robe priest wrote this for his choir — and our ancestors sang it. It is our oldest carol and shouldn’t be lost. It reminds us of how things have changed. What you have done with the new lyrics is what I call reconciliation.”
A counsellor with BC Corrections and the Stz’uminus Nation for 23 years, Daniel is also a sweat lodge keeper and a healer using traditional native plants. Known for his evocative paintings of his people, Daniel has also written and illustrated the emotionally-rich book Winds of Change: Truth, Art & Reconciliation. Daniel is currently working on documentaries preserving the stories and wisdom of First Nation elders. See: www.Ravenskyproductions.ca.
