Birthdays: Everyone’s got one!
Someone special is celebrating their birthday today (maybe that someone is you!) so it seems like a good time to gather up some good birthday words in Cree to pass along via Facebook, or better yet, with a big hug in real life.
miyo-tipiska is a fairly direct translation of the English.
ka-wî-miyo-tipiskên “may you have a good birthday” is a little gentler.
If you’d like to sing the traditional birthday song, here is one version in y-dialect (change the y to n or th for other dialects, and you should be ready for anything!)
ka-miyo-tipiskânisin
ka-miyo-tipiskânisin
ka-miyo-tipiskânisiw
ka-niyo-tipiskânisin!
A few more useful birthday words in Cree from nêhiyawêwin : itwêwina / Cree : Words
- nihtâwikiwin (birthday)
- tipiskam-wîhkihkasôs (birthday cake)
- tipiskamowin (birthday; anniversary)
- tipiskam (have a birthday)
- miyikosiwin (gift)
- ispîhtisîw (be such in age, be so many years old; extend thus)
- wîci-ispîhtisîmêw (be the same age as s.o.)
- ayinânêwopiponêw (be eight years old)
- kêkâ-nistomitanawopiponêw (be twenty-nine years old) 😉
Finally, there are some really great Cree-style birthday songs from Youtube – even if they are sung in English.
First from Northern Cree (a classic!)
Not sure who these guys are, but it’s another great birthday song!
