The Christmas hymn that touches everyone

When everyone in the church stands up and begins to sing Inngilerpassuit, which is the intro to Christmas carol Guuterput qutsinnermiu, there is always a solemn and moving atmosphere where many are moved and shed a little tear.

Why the hymn means so much to the Greenlanders and why it touches all hearts, we sought to find the answer with the priest Aviaja Rohmann Pedersen from Nuuk.

When everyone in the church stands up and begins to sing Inngilerpassuit, which is the intro to Christmas carol Guuterput qutsinnermiu, there is always a solemn and moving atmosphere where many are moved and shed a little tear.

Why the hymn means so much to the Greenlanders and why it touches all hearts, we sought to find the answer with the priest Aviaja Rohmann Pedersen from Nuuk.

– Themselves the text came to Rasmus Berthelsen in a dream while he was in the process of prepare for the services at Christmas. The story goes that he sat and wrote when he dozed off and dreamed that the angels came and sang to him with a text, which later became Guuterput qutsinnermiu.

- The one means a lot to us Greenlanders because the hymn is written in Greenlandic mentality and made for us who speak the Greenlandic language. But also because the is sung in Inukkooq, which was the Greenlanders' way of singing in the old days, says Aviaja Rohmann Pedersen.

The hymn came into existence in 1858, when Christianity in Greenland was only a little over 100 years old. Most of the hymns sung at that time were translated from European languages.

- Back then Guuterput qutsinnermiu came into being, it must have been very difficult to explain one message that came into being almost 2000 years ago when Jesus was born. But with Guuterput qutsinnermiu God and Jesus suddenly became present to the Greenlanders. Jesus was born and also died for us Greenlanders. In the text it says: "inungaa" and "inunni", which is the term we Greenlanders use for ourselves, and as in the translation reads "children of the earth".

- The one appeals to us. In this way, the hymn remains present, it speaks to us Inuit and we become part of the divine. The hymn must have made a big impression at that time. Not least because it is also sung slowly, like an inukkooq, like man did it in the old days, says Aviaja Rohmann Pedersen.

Simple text

Gout qutsinnermiu has always been perceived as particularly Greenlandic, too because it breaks the European tradition of ending rhymes in the hymns.

- I the old Greenlandic songs have not had end rhymes, and although Christianity, even when Rasmus Berthelsen was alive, was well integrated in Greenland, people were still known to sing inukkooq. And that is why the hymn is to this day still much loved and means so much to the Greenlanders precisely because it is Greenlandic in both the text, which speaks to the Greenlander, and in the melody, which is it way you have sung in the past, says Aviaja Rohmann Pedersen.

The text is short and very simple, yet it says it all.

- There is only two verses, but it tells very simply about the birth of Jesus and that we with his birth is saved and gets eternal life in heaven. It tells that we are one part of the divine. That is why the hymn means so much to us, says Aviaja Rohmann Pedersen.

I the following Danish translation/re-poetry by Mathias Stork and Christian Ludwigs from 1910 (Fredensborg, 2000, pp. 290-1), several end rhymes are inscribed in the song, which is not found in the Greenlandic version.

Danish - Our God

Intro

One great host of angels

Rise on Christmas night down to earth,

Song for the shepherds of the field sweetly in chorus.

1.

You, God, our God, in heaven's helmet,

Spoon price in Eternity!

Now peace descends upon the earth

And joy in hearts Save!

Earth's Children!

Today a Savior is born to you.

2.

That Jesus Christ, God the Lord great,

Spring Christmas present good,

For left us his Hemmersal,

Stayed peace and joy on earth!

Earth's children,

For salvation brings Praise and Thanks.