Cree Literacy Network

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!