Huron refers to the Wyandot indigenous people of North America and to the Wyandot language. It may also refer to:

Places[link]

Bodies of water[link]

• Lake Huron, one of the North American Great Lakes
• Huron River (Michigan) in southeast Michigan
• Huron River (northern Michigan) or Big Huron River in the northern Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Little Huron River in the northern Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Huron River (Ohio) in north central Ohio
• Huron Swamp in Springfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan
• Huron Falls, one of 24 named waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania

Cities and towns in the United States[link]

• Huron, California, a small city in Fresno County, California
• Huron, Indiana
• Huron, Kansas, a city in Atchison County, Kansas
• Huron, Ohio, a city in Erie County, Ohio
• Huron, New York, a town in Wayne County, New York
• Huron, South Dakota, a city in Beadle County, South Dakota
• Huron, Tennessee
• Huron, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
• Hurontown, Michigan
• Huron Beach, Michigan
• Huron Mountain, Michigan
• Port Huron, Michigan

Townships in the United States[link]

• Huron Charter Township, Michigan, in Wayne County
• Huron Township, Iowa
• Huron Township, Michigan, in Huron County
• Huron Township, North Dakota
• Huron Township, Erie County, Ohio
• Huron Township, South Dakota
• Port Huron Township, Michigan

Municipal places in Canada[link]

• Huron—Bruce (formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex), a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario
• Huron-Kinloss, Ontario, a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within Bruce County
• Huron No. 223, Saskatchewan, a rural municipality in south-central Saskatchewan
• Huron East, Ontario, a municipality located in Huron County, Ontario
• Huron South, a historic federal electoral district in Ontario
• Huron North, a historic federal electoral district in Ontario
• Huron East, a historic federal electoral district in Ontario
• Huron West, a historic federal electoral district in Ontario
• Huron Centre, a federal electoral district in Ontario

Counties[link]

• Huron County, Michigan
• Huron County, Ohio
• Huron County, Ontario

Parks, forests, mountains[link]

• Huron Glacier, a glacial flow on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
• The Huron Islands, the location of Huron National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan on Lake Superior
• The Huron Mountains, a modest range of mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Huron National Forest in Michigan
• Huron Peak, a mountain in Colorado

Educational institutions[link]

• Huron University, a former institution in South Dakota
• Huron University College, a confederated college of the University of Western Ontario
• Huron University USA in London, an American institution in the United Kingdom, formerly affiliated with Huron University in South Dakota and since become independent
• Huron High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
• Huron High School (Ohio)

Military[link]

• USS Huron (1861), a gunboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War
• USS Huron (1875), an iron sloop-rigged screw steam gunboat built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania
• United State lightship Huron (LV-103), a lightvessel launched in 1920 and now a museum ship moored in Pine Grove Park
• USS Huron (CA-9), a US Navy armored cruiser
• HMCS Huron (G24), a World War II Tribal class destroyer
• HMCS Huron (DDG 281), Iroquois class destroyer active from 1972 to 2005
• HMCS Huron (G24), a Tribal class destroyer built by Vickers-Armstrongs on the River Tyne in England
• Beechcraft C-12 Huron, a series of twin-engine turboprop aircraft

Other uses[link]

• Huron (UK band), an English heavy metal band active since 2007
• Huron (Canadian band), a Canadian rock band active since 2008
• Huron Carol, a traditional Canadian Christmas carol
• Huron Consulting Group, an international management consulting company
• Port Huron Statement, the manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
• Huron Subdivision or Huron Sub, a railway line owned and operated by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad
• Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, a band of Potawatomi American Indians, based in Calhoun County, Michigan), are also known as the Huron Potawatomi
• Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
• "Hurón", either Galictis vittata or Galictis cuja, two related ferret-like mammals from Central and South America
• "Huron" AMD Sempron microprocessor

See also[link]

• Huron County (disambiguation)
• Huron River (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

	Huron Carol Tune for Huron Carol
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The "Huron Carol" (or "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime") is a Canadian Christmas hymn (Canada's oldest Christmas song), written in 1643 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people; the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born"). The song's melody is based on a traditional French folk song, "Une Jeune Pucelle" ("A Young Maid"). The well-known English lyrics were written in 1926 by Jesse Edgar Middleton, and the copyright to these lyrics was held by The Frederick Harris Music Co., Limited, but became public domain in 2011.

The English version of the hymn uses imagery familiar in the early 20th century, in place of the traditional Nativity story. This version is derived from Brebeuf's original song and Huron religious concepts. In the English version, Jesus is born in a "lodge of broken bark", and wrapped in a "robe of rabbit skin". He is surrounded by hunters instead of shepherds, and the Magi are portrayed as "chiefs from afar" that bring him "fox and beaver pelts" instead of the more familiar gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The hymn also uses a traditional Algonquian name, Gitchi Manitou, for God. The original lyrics are now sometimes modified to use imagery accessible to Christians who are not familiar with Native-Canadian cultures.

The song remains a common Christmas hymn in Canadian churches of many Christian denominations. Canadian singer Bruce Cockburn has also recorded a rendition of the song in the original Huron. It was also sung by Canadian musician Tom Jackson during his annual Huron Carole show. The group 'Crash Test Dummies' recorded this hymn on their album "Jingle all the Way" (2002). In the United States, the song was included as "Jesous Ahatonia" on Burl Ives's 1952 album Christmas Day in the Morning and was later released as a Burl Ives single under the title "Indian Christmas Carol." The music has been rearranged by the Canadian songwriter Loreena McKennitt under the title "Breton Carol" in 2008. A new recording with a very mystical setting of the Huron Carol was released in 2011 performed by The Canadian Tenors.

Because the melody spans a modest range, it is ideally suited to instruments that have a limited pitch range, such as the Native American Flute^[1]

Versions[link]

• 2001: Terry McDade and The McDades recorded a version featuring Indian bansuri on their Free Radio Records release "Midwinter"

References[link]

External links[link]

• J.E. Middleton's English lyrics to the Huron Carol (n.b., under Canadian and international copyright protection until 2011)
• Lyrics translated into Mi'kmaw by Mildred Milliea, with an MP3 of the song as sung by the Eskasoni Trio
• Original Wendat language (Huron) lyrics with pronunciation guide and translation^{[dead link]} (Archived September 27, 2006 at the Wayback Machine)
• Lyrics, translation and discussion of the Bruce Cockburn version of the Huron Carol, including critique of the Middleton lyrics
• Rewritten rock music version called The Lake Huron Carol set in the modern Lake Huron area; page includes historical notes on the original song.
• Wendat(Huron)/French/English version by Canadian Artist Heather Dale
•  [[:Media:|]] (help·[[:Image:|info]]) Rendition by Frédérique Pinot, Jérôme Gofette, Alexandre Gérard and Tonio from France

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Loreena McKennitt
Background information
Birth name	Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt
Born	(1957-02-17) 17 February 1957 (age 55) Morden, Manitoba, Canada
Origin	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Celtic, world, New Age
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Voice, piano, harp, accordion
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Quinlan Road, Warner Bros., Verve Forecast/Universal
Website	quinlanroad.com

Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals.^[1] She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.^[2]

Early life[link]

McKennitt was born in Morden, Manitoba of Irish and Scottish descent to parents Jack (died 1992; a livestock dealer) and Irene McKennitt (1931-2011; a nurse). She moved to Stratford, Ontario in 1981, where she still resides.

When Loreena was young she wanted to become a veterinarian but she found that music chose her rather than she it.^[3] Developing a passion for Celtic music, she learned to play the Celtic harp and began busking at various places, including St. Lawrence Market in Toronto in order to earn money to record her first album.^[4]

Career[link]

McKennitt's first album, Elemental, was released in 1985, followed by To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987), Parallel Dreams (1989), The Visit (1991), The Mask and Mirror (1994), A Winter Garden (1995), The Book of Secrets (1997), An Ancient Muse (2006), A Midwinter Night’s Dream (2008), and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2010). All of her work is released under her own label, Quinlan Road.

In 1990, McKennitt provided the music for the National Film Board of Canada documentary The Burning Times, a feminist revisionist account of the Early Modern European witchcraft trials. The main theme would later be rerecorded by her and her band and called "Tango to Evora", a track that appears on her album The Visit.

In 1993, she toured Europe supporting Mike Oldfield. In 1995, her version of the traditional Irish song "Bonny Portmore" was featured in the Highlander series. McKennitt's single "The Mummers' Dance" received airplay in North American markets during the spring of 1997, and was used as the theme song for the short-lived TV series Legacy. It also saw use in the trailer for a wide-release 1998 Drew Barrymore film Ever After.^[5]

Her music appeared in the movies The Santa Clause, Soldier, Jade, Holy Man, The Mists of Avalon and Tinkerbell; and in the television series Roar, Due South, and Full Circle (Women and Spirituality).

Personal life[link]

In 1998, McKennitt's fiancé Ronald Rees, his brother Richard and their close friend Gregory Cook drowned during a boating accident on Georgian Bay. She was deeply affected by the event and subsequently founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety in the same year.

At the time of the incident, she was working on a live album of two performances called Live in Paris and Toronto. The proceeds from this album were donated to the newly created memorial fund, totaling some three million dollars.^[6] After the release of the live album, McKennitt decided to substantially reduce the number of her public performances and did not release any new recordings until the studio album An Ancient Muse in 2006.

Honours[link]

• Juno Award, Best Roots/Traditional Album 1992, for The Visit.
• Juno Award, Best Roots/Traditional Album 1994, for The Mask and Mirror.
• Billboard Music Award for International Achievement, 1997.
• Headline performer for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at The Golden Jubilee Celebrations, Province of Manitoba, 2002.
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, Wilfrid Laurier University, 2002.
• Member of the Order of Manitoba, July 2003.
• Member of the Order of Canada, July 2004.
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Manitoba, June 2005
• Canadian Ambassador, Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennary, June 2005
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Queen's University, October 2005
• Investiture as Honorary Colonel, 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, December 2006
• Nominated for a Grammy award, Best Contemporary World Music Album, in 2007
• Western Canadian Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, September 2009
• Performed at Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Opening Ceremonies, February 12, 2010
• Honorary Bachelor of Applied Business, George Brown College, June 2010

Genre and work[link]

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McKennitt's music has generally been classified as World / Celtic music even though it contains aspects and characteristics of music from around the globe and is sometimes classified as Folk music in record stores.^{[citation needed]}

Before McKennitt composes any music, she engages in considerable research on a specific subject which then forms the general concept of the album.^{[citation needed]} Before creating Elemental and Parallel Dreams, she traveled to Ireland for inspiration from the country's history, folklore, geography and culture. The album The Mask and Mirror was preceded by research in Spain where she engaged in studying Galicia, a Celtic section of Spain, along with its abundant Arabic roots.^{[citation needed]} The result was an album that included elements of Celtic and Arabic music. According to the jacket notes, her album An Ancient Muse was inspired by travels among and reading about the various cultures along the Silk Road.

McKennitt is compared to Enya,^{[citation needed]} but McKennitt's music is more grounded in traditional and classical invocations,^{[citation needed]} using literary works as sources of lyrics and springboards for interpretation such as "The Lady of Shalott" by Lord Tennyson, "Prospero's Speech" (the final soliloquy in William Shakespeare's The Tempest), "Snow" by Archibald Lampman, "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross, Dante's Inferno, William Blake's "Lullaby", Yeats' "The Stolen Child", "The English Ladye and the Knight" by Sir Walter Scott and "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes.

Court case[link]

In 2005, McKennitt was involved in an acrimonious court case in Britain when her former friend and employee, Niema Ash, published a book that contained intimate details of their friendship. McKennitt argued that much of the book contained confidential personal information that Ash had no right to publish. The British courts found that there had indeed been a breach of confidence and a misuse of McKennitt's private information, and the case is likely to set important precedents in British law on the privacy of celebrities.^[7] The House of Lords affirmed the lower court's decisions in 2007.

2006 and later[link]

In September 2006, McKennitt performed live at the Alhambra. The performance premiered on PBS and in August 2007 was released on a three-disc DVD/CD set titled Nights from the Alhambra.

In 2008, McKennitt wrote and composed a song she titled "To The Fairies They Draw Near" as the theme song for Disney's direct-to-video animated film Tinker Bell. She also provided the narration for the film.^[8]

In early 2008, she returned to Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios to record A Midwinter Night’s Dream, an extended version of her 1995 mini-album A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season. The album was released on October 28, 2008.^[9]

Since the release of An Ancient Muse, Loreena has toured consistently, with a European and North American tour in the spring of 2007, an extensive cross Canada and United States tour in the fall of 2007, a summer tour of Europe in 2008 and a Mediterranean tour in the summer of 2009 with stops in Greece,^[10] Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Hungary and Italy.

On September 17, 2009, McKennitt announced that she planned to release a two-disc album titled "A Mediterranean Odyssey" in the fall of 2009. The first CD, "From Istanbul to Athens," consisted of ten new live recordings made during McKennitt’s 2009 Mediterranean Tour, including songs she had never before recorded in concert. The second CD, "The Olive and the Cedar," had a Mediterranean theme which McKennitt herself curated. It contained previously released studio recordings created between the years of 1994 and 2006.

November 16, 2010 saw the US release (November 12 for Europe) of McKennitt's latest studio album, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley." Recorded at the Sharon Temple, Ontario, it consists of nine traditional Celtic songs. "Every once and again there is a pull to return to one's own roots or beginnings, with the perspective of time and experience, to feel the familiar things you once loved and love still," says Loreena.

Documentaries[link]

Late in the 1990s, McKennitt created No Journey's End, a half-hour documentary, for American television. In it, she discussed the influences behind her music. No Journey's End contained excerpts from several songs from the albums Parallel Dreams, The Visit, and The Mask and Mirror. It also shows live performances of the songs "The Lady of Shalott," "Santiago," and "The Dark Night of the Soul." It was later released on DVD and VHS, the former also containing music videos for "The Mummers' Dance" and "The Bonny Swans." A bonus copy of the DVD was included with the 2004 remastered versions of McKennitt's CDs.

In 2008, Loreena released A Moveable Musical Feast, based on her 2007 An Ancient Muse tour. The DVD included interviews with Loreena, her band, crew, fans and professional colleagues from the Canadian music industry.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Live albums[link]

Compilations[link]

EPs[link]

Boxed sets[link]

• The Journey Begins (2008)

Singles[link]

Videos[link]

• H.M.S. Pinafore Live performance recorded during the 1981 Stratford Festival in Stratford Ontario, Canada, starring Michael Burgess, Katherine Terrell, Eric Donkin, Kenneth Pearl, Jim White, et al.; Loreena McKennitt performed in the chorus. (CBC VHS 1986)
• The Mummers' Dance (1997)
• The Bonny Swans
• Nights from the Alhambra (2007, Live concert in Spain premiered on PBS)^[22]
• A Moveable Musical Feast (2008, A tour documentary from Loreena's 2007 North American Tour)^[22]

Other[link]

• No Journey’s End (half-hour profile, aired on PBS; DVD)
• Heaven on Earth (TV Movie 1987 - played "Lady Traveler")
• Highlander III (Soundtrack contribution)
• The Santa Clause (Soundtrack contribution, "The Bells of Christmas")
• Léolo (Soundtrack contribution)
• Una casa con vista al mar (Soundtrack contribution)
• The Mists Of Avalon (Soundtrack use)
• The Burning Times (Soundtrack contribution)
• Due South (Soundtrack use)
• Northern Exposure (Soundtrack use)
• Tinker Bell (Direct to DVD movie, 2008 - Narrator)
• Soldier (Soundtrack use)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Loreena McKennitt

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Loreena McKennitt

• Official website
• Loreena McKennitt interview from the echoes public radio show