How to Say Merry Christmas in Burmese

Asia

Nov 3

Written by Kelsey Cecil

Merry Christmas in Burmese

ပျော်ရွှင်ဖွယ်ရာ ခရစ္စမတ်ပွဲတော် ဖြစ်ပါစေ

Pyaw-shwin-hpwe-yar Khayit-sa-mat pwe-daw hpyit-pa-say

Say it like this: pyaw-shwin-PWEH-yah kah-YIT-sah-MAT pweh-DAW pyit-pah-SAY

Big letters show the part to say louder.

Quick answer

In Burmese, Merry Christmas is ပျော်ရွှင်ဖွယ်ရာ ခရစ္စမတ်ပွဲတော် ဖြစ်ပါစေ (Pyaw-shwin-hpwe-yar Khayit-sa-mat pwe-daw hpyit-pa-say), said like pyaw-shwin-PWEH-yah kah-YIT-sah-MAT pweh-DAW pyit-pah-SAY.
Happy New Year is နှစ်သစ်ကူး ချမ်းသာအောင်မြင်ပါစေ (Hnit-thit-ku chan-thar aung-myin pa-say).
People say it in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, United States.

What Pyaw-shwin-hpwe-yar Khayit-sa-mat pwe-daw hpyit-pa-say means

'Pyaw-shwin' (joyful) + 'hpwe-yar' (worthy of) + 'Khayit-sa-mat' (Christmas, borrowed from English) + 'pwe-daw' (festival) + 'hpyit-pa-say' (may it be). Together it means: may it be a joyful Christmas festival.

Burmese is written in its own round script, with letters shaped like small circles and curves, and it is read from left to right.

Other ways to say it in Burmese

ပျော်ရွှင်သော ခရစ္စမတ် ဖြစ်ပါစေ

Pyaw-shwin-thaw Khayit-sa-mat hpyit-pa-say

Say it like this: pyaw-shwin-THAW kah-YIT-sah-MAT pyit-pah-SAY

Means may you have a joyful Christmas. A shorter form of the same wish.

ခရစ္စမတ်ကောင်းများစွာဖြစ်ပါစေ

Khayit-sa-mat kaung-myar-swar hpyit-pa-say

Say it like this: kah-YIT-sah-MAT kown-myah-SWAH pyit-pah-SAY

Means many Christmas blessings, a more formal wish often used with elders.

Happy New Year

နှစ်သစ်ကူး ချမ်းသာအောင်မြင်ပါစေ

Hnit-thit-ku chan-thar aung-myin pa-say

Say it like this: hnit-thit-KOO chan-THAH owng-MYIN pah-SAY

may the new year bring peace and success

Where people speak Burmese

MyanmarThailandMalaysiaUnited States

Burmese (မြန်မာစာ) belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Say it with Rally on Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Rally the corgi rides the Christmas Train to more than 100 places and teaches kids how to say Merry Christmas at every stop. Practice Burmese today, then follow his trip.

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Christmas traditions where people speak Burmese

Sweet December in Myitkyina: In Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in northern Myanmar, December is nicknamed Sweet December, and people greet each other with Happy Sweet December. Church services use songs in Jinghpaw and Burmese.^[4]
Carolling by pickup truck: Carolling groups travel from house to house on modified pickup trucks, with a boombox and a generator, and visit dozens of homes in one night. Some families greet them with dancing children.^[4]
Lights and warm food: Kachin National Manau Park puts on a twelve day light display with hanging stars. Volunteers cook rice porridge over fires, and carollers warm up with a soup of sweet milk, fermented black rice and a soft boiled egg.^[4]

🎄 Quick game: Merry Christmas in Burmese

Three quick questions for kids. Tap an answer to play.

Say Merry Christmas in more languages

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Questions parents ask

How do you say Merry Christmas in Burmese?

You can say "ပျော်ရွှင်ဖွယ်ရာ ခရစ္စမတ်ပွဲတော် ဖြစ်ပါစေ" (Pyaw-shwin-hpwe-yar Khayit-sa-mat pwe-daw hpyit-pa-say). Most people in Myanmar are Buddhist, so this greeting is mainly used by Christian communities, such as the Kachin, Chin and Karen, and by friends who join the festival. Language guides list several similar wishes.^[1]

How do you pronounce "Pyaw-shwin-hpwe-yar Khayit-sa-mat pwe-daw hpyit-pa-say"?

Say pyaw-shwin-PWEH-yah kah-YIT-sah-MAT pweh-DAW pyit-pah-SAY. Burmese is a tonal language, so a recording from a native speaker is the best guide for the tones. Say the long phrase in short chunks: pyaw-shwin, then hpwe-yar, then Khayit-sa-mat, then pwe-daw, and finally hpyit-pa-say. Spellings in English letters vary a lot.

What does "Pyaw-shwin-hpwe-yar Khayit-sa-mat pwe-daw hpyit-pa-say" mean?

It means may it be a joyful Christmas festival. Pyaw-shwin means joyful, pwe-daw means festival or celebration, and hpyit-pa-say is a polite way of wishing that something be so. The word for Christmas is borrowed from English, so children will recognize it. The shorter alternative drops 'festival' and simply wishes you a joyful Christmas.^[1]

How do you write Merry Christmas in Burmese?

In Burmese script it is ပျော်ရွှင်ဖွယ်ရာ ခရစ္စမတ်ပွဲတော် ဖြစ်ပါစေ. Burmese letters are round, and spaces mark phrases rather than single words. In English letters, spellings vary a lot, so the Burmese script is the safest choice for printed cards, ideally checked by a Burmese speaker before printing.^[1]

How do you say Happy New Year in Burmese?

A New Year wish listed in a Burmese learning guide is "နှစ်သစ်ကူး ချမ်းသာအောင်မြင်ပါစေ" (Hnit-thit-ku chan-thar aung-myin pa-say), said like hnit-thit-KOO chan-THAH owng-MYIN pah-SAY. It means may the new year bring peace and success. Thingyan, the water festival in April, is the traditional Burmese New Year.^[2][3]

Is there a formal and a casual way to say Merry Christmas in Burmese?

Khayit-sa-mat kaung-myar-swar hpyit-pa-say, which means many Christmas blessings, is more formal and is often used with elders. The first greeting here works for most people. A shorter version, Pyaw-shwin-thaw Khayit-sa-mat hpyit-pa-say, is a simple joyful-Christmas wish. With friends, a short Merry Christmas in English is also common.^[1]

When do people say Merry Christmas in Burmese?

People say it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at church, at family meals, and in messages to friends. In Kachin State, a similar Christmas greeting is sung and shouted during house to house carolling at night in December, when groups travel from home to home and stop at dozens of houses before dawn.^[1][4]

Is the main Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day for Burmese speakers?

Christmas Day, December 25, is the main day, and it is a public holiday in Myanmar. In places such as Myitkyina, the whole month of December feels like a celebration, with services, carolling and lights, and the busiest nights are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when church services and carolling go on late.^[4]

What is a Christmas tradition for Burmese speaking Christians?

In Kachin State, carolling groups travel from house to house on pickup trucks, singing at dozens of homes in one night. Volunteers cook rice porridge over fires to feed the carollers, and the Kachin National Manau Park lights up with hanging stars. These customs come from the Kachin Christian community in northern Myanmar.^[4]

How can I teach Burmese Christmas words to kids?

Break the long greeting into chunks and add one at a time. Start with pyaw-shwin, which means joyful, then add Khayit-sa-mat, which sounds close to Christmas, and finish with pwe-daw and hpyit-pa-say. Children can clap once per chunk, and a native Burmese speaker can record the tones for them.

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