Huron-Wendat Madonna & Christ-Child Icon
March 2022

Commissioned by St. John Brebeuf Church, Kingsville, ON
 This commission continues within the Indigenous icons written by the hand of Andre Prevost. This icon of Holy Mother Mary with the infant Christ-Child, is within a traditional Huron-Wendat region setting, and is on a cradled wood panel covered with muslin and gesso and written in Archival Acrylics and 23K Gold leaf. The depiction of the icon references the iconographer’s earlier Coast Salish Madonna and Christ-Child icon but is adapted to the Huron-Wendat Culture and guided by Brebeuf’s Huron Carol.

Mother Mary and the Christ-Child seated in the foreground, with a depiction of a Wendat Longhouse with a section of a fortress barrier behind them. From the Huron Carol, the main inscription above the icon is IESUS AHATTONNIA, which comes from the original Wyndat (Huron) language, and referencing the Huron Carol’s ‘Have courage, you who are humans. Jesus, He is born’ (using the classical Latin for Jesus, as would have been used by Brebeuf).
 Symbols within the icon include:
 • The Wyndat longhouse covered with tree bark, and a section of fortress barrier erected around Wyndat villages.
• Jesus is in a Wyndat cradleboard and wrapped in rabbit pelts (Huron Carol). The colour of the rabbit pelt is a lighter grey, symbolizing the early Spring where the fur gradually darkens after Winter.
 • A red turtle is painted above the entrance for Turtle Island.
 • A Beaver mound within a body of water is a key Wyndat symbol.
 • Mary’s traditional Greek inscription ‘MPOY’ for Mater Theos/The Mother of God, is next to Her right shoulder.
 • Jesus’ inscription in his cruciform halo ΕΓΩ ΕΙΜΑΙ is a Greek variation of ‘I AM, or I EXIST.’

 The image draws the viewer into a loving, tender moment between Mother Mary (seated) and Her infant Son being held on her lap. He is swaddled in rabbit pelts within His Wendat cradleboard and buckskin wrap. Her gentle face draws close to His, bringing full attention to the Christ-Child, with his smiling face, welcoming and blessing the viewer(s) with His free right hand. Some of the Wendat ornamentation of the cradleboard, usually on the back, were included on the outer front edges for the viewer to see. The cord of His buckskin wrap has been loosened to free His right arm and is wound along bone buttons from the bottom to the top.

 Mary wears Her hair loosely and portrayed within a Wendat Buckskin dress with its distinctive fringing and beadwork, with neck and ear pendants.

 This icon continues within the Indigenous focus of Indigenous Peoples seeing themselves within the icon as bearers of the Good News and as having a shared experience within their church. This form of depiction is guided by Father John Giuliani’s words “My intent, therefore, in depicting Christian saints as Native Americans is to honor them and to acknowledge their original spiritual presence on this land. It is this original Native American spirituality that I attempt to celebrate in rendering the beauty and excellence of their craft as well as the dignity of their persons.”

http://indigenousjesus.blogspot.ca/2012/11/father-john-giuliani-painter-of-native.html
 This new series of icons by Andre J. Prevost is specifically connected to the Truth and Reconciliation.