The original words were written by Josef Mohr in Oberndorf,
Austria, circa 1816-1818. The music was by Franz Gruber, circa
1820. The words were translated into English by John F. Young in
1863. There are at least 8 Maori versions. I don't know any
details of the date or author of any of these translations.
1.
Märie Te Po" is the closest translation of the English version
of Silent Night.
Don't sing "Mar-ree-ay tey poh", try singing "Mar-ri-air
tair por"
Marie te p?, tapu te p?
Marino, marama
Ko te Whaea, me te Tama
Tama tino tapu ra
Moe mai i te aio
Moe mai i te aio.
Marie te p?, tapu te p?
Ka kite nga hepara
Te koröria o te rangi
Me nga ahera Hareruia
Kua whanau te tamaiti
E Ihu te Karaiti
Peaceful night, holy
night,
calm, bright.
By the mother and the Son
the truly holy Son there
Sleeping in peace
Sleeping in peace
Peaceful night, holy night.
Shepherds behold
the glory in the sky
and angels' 'Halleluiah.'
The child that has been born
is Jesus the Christ.
2 a.
"Po Märie" is also sung frequently these days
(the 2010s)
Don't
sing "Poh Mar-ree-ay", try singing "Por
Mar-ri-air"
P? m?rie, p? aroha
Kei te moe nga tangata
E titiro atu ana
A Maria me Hohepa
Ki te Kaiwhakaora
Ki a Hehu aroha P? m?rie, p? aroha
Whaka-atu mai nga Anahera
Kia hari ki te ao nei
Kua whänau a Hehu
Te Kaiwhakaora
Ki Peterehema.
Peaceful night, night of love,
When people are asleep
Mary and Joseph
keep looking
At the Saviour
at the loving Jesus
Peaceful night, holy night.
Angels proclaim
A message to this world
That Jesus is born
The Saviour
At Bethlehem
2 b. The
senior St Joe's students at their end-of-year dinner, with a
different 2nd verse.
Kapa
Waiata:
Pö märie, pö aroha
Kei te moe nga tangata
E titiro atu ana
A Maria me Hohepa
Ki te Kaiwhakaora
Ki a Hehu aroha
Hinemihi:
Hikohiko ana mai ngä
whetu
Hariru koröria
Kua ngä whänau mai
he Atua
Hü....ngä....
Hüngä te pö nei
Ta....pu....
Tapu te pö nei
Kua tutuki te Ariki
E Hehu
Choir
Peaceful night, night of love,
When people are asleep
Mary and Joseph
keep looking
At the Saviour
at the loving Jesus
Soloist:
Flashes of light from the stars
Glorious news
a God has been born
Silent....
Silent this night
Holy....
Holy
this night
The great Lord has sent
Jesus
3.
A group of Maori Battalion patients from
No. 2 New Zealand
General
Hospital in North Africa, 1942.
The soloist is Nurse Wiki Katene of Porirua (Ngati Toa).
E te pö, e pö tapu
Marino nui, marama pai
I te whaea,
tamai nui
Tamai tïtapu atawhai
Mai-tia te moe a märie
Mai-tia i te rangi märie
Oh
the night, oh holy night
Great calm, untroubled light
Near the mother, and baby of high rank
Baby so sacred, benevolent
May his sleep be peaceful
May his spirit be peaceful
Tamai is an abbreviated form of
Tamaiti = Tama-iti - small boy = baby boy.
4. in
December 1943, the Maori Battalion were fighting at Orsogno,
Italy.
Richard Spence, in his biography of
Padre Wi Huata, writes
"At Christmas Eve, just
on midnight, the Maori struck up "Silent
Night" in Maori. And the
Germans replied in their language."
Hangu te po, tapu te po,
Marama tiaho mai
Ki te Whaea me te Tama,
Tama tapu ngakau märie,
Tou te rangimarie --
Tou te rangimarie.
Hangu te po, tapu te po,
Ka kite nga hepara.
Te kororia ki te rangi
mano waiata hareruia.
Ka whanau te Karaiti --
A Ihu te Ariki.
Stille
Nacht, heilige Nacht,
alles schläft, einsam wacht
nur das traute, hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigem Haar,
schlaf' in himmlischler Ruh' - -
schlaf' in himmlischler Ruh'.
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Hirten erst kundemacht
durch der Engel Hallelujah,
tönt es laut von fern und nah';
Christ, der Retter, ist da --
Christ, der Retter, ist da.
However it is unlikely that the
Maori troops would have sung words that were completely
different from what they had sung 12 months previously. I
think the biographer has just looked up 'the'
Maori version of Silent Night, and copied it into his
manuscript, unaware that there were several versions of it.
‘It's
about time you got to know your relations,’ Mum
said. ‘You kids are growing up proper little
Pakehas. And Nanny Caroline's always asking me
if she's going to see her mokopunas before she
dies. Don't you want to see your Nanny?’
Over
the the summer holidays, do take time to read
Witi's childhood story of spending his holidays
with his cousins on the East Coast. I can never
read it without crying. Halcyon
5. Here is another version, from "Te Marae
by Hiwi" and Pat Tauroa.
Haungu te po, tapu te po
Marino, marama
Ko te whaea, me te tama
Tama tino tapu rawa
Moe mai i te marie
Moe mai i te marie
Silent
the night, holy the night
calm, bright
Near the mother, and boy
Baby truly sacred indeed
May his sleep be peaceful
May his sleep be peaceful
6.
I found this version during a Google search in
2018.
Po märie, po aroha
Marama märie
Ki te whaea me te Tamaiti
Tamaiti tapu o te Atua
Moe i te aio
Moe i te rangimärie
Silent
night, night of love
bright, peaceful
near the mother, and little boy
Baby truly sacred indeed
Sleep calmly
Sleep peacefully
7. And
this theological one also.
Marie te po, tapu te po
Marino, tiaho
Te mauri o te Matua
Tama tapu, tohu aroha
Moe maranga kua noa
Moe maranga kua noa
Peaceful
the night, holy the night
Calm, radiant
The life-essence of the Father
Holy son, a sign of love
Rise from your sleep and be free
Rise from your sleep and be free
8. The New Zealand Youth Choir sing
yet another version in this 2005
Youtube clip.
P? m?rie, p? tapu
Marino ana, tiaho ana
Runga ia Meri me te Tama
Tama tapu i nga waenga
Moe i ai o rangi e
I te ao e
Silent
night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Above Mary and her
Son
Holy Boy in our
midst
Sleeping as of heaven
in the world.
I think what happened was that in
the 1880s Maori communities began taking up
hymns sung in English,
and making Maori translations of the words. But
communities were separated by distance, by being in different
Christian denominations, and by poor communications. So
several versions of Silent Night came into existence, and my
guess is that some translations were by missionaries fresh
from England using dictionaries. But with closer
communications, there has been a selection process.
"E te po, e po tapu” starts in a bland way, and the words used
are unusual and have too many syllables. So we never hear that
today.
The versions starting with "Hangu te po, ” also use a poor
translation for “Silent, still night” as Hangu means silent in
the sense of dumb, uncommunicative.
But Ma-ri-e (“mar-ree-air”) means peaceful, calm, still. That
has left us with 'Po marie, po aroha' and 'M?rie te p?, tapu
te p?'
