Jingle Bells in Mi'kmaq a Facebook hit for 7-year-old
Serena Kingbird shared her love of singing the song after performing it at school
After singing Jingle Bells in Mi'kmaq with her class at the school Christmas concert, Serena Kingbird of Esgenoôpetitj First Nation wanted to share it with more people.
Her mother, Kyanna Kingbird, took a video of her daughter singing the Christmas song and posted it to her Facebook account. Since being posted, it's had almost 900 views and been shared many times for others to watch.
"She has a lot of pride when she's able to speak her language," Kingbird said.
In the video Serena, who is seven years old, sings the short song with a big smile on her face. Toward the end of the video, she grabs her cat, Winston, a recent adoption from the local SPCA, and moves the cat in a dance as she finishes singing the song.
When finished, Serena gives a quick explanation of what she just sang.
"Jijuejgl means jingle bells, so I was singing Jingle Bells. Merry Christmas!"
Kingbird said Serena learned the song from an elder in the community, Margaret Joe.
"My daughter is very taken with her and she really enjoys the class," she said.
"Since she's been home and since she's been in her Mi'kmaq classes, she's been speaking it more."
Kingbird said she was proud of how quickly her daughter learned the song and worked at practising it over and over.
"Children are so quick and easy at it."
Kingbird said her daughter is enjoying the reactions to the video and the comments being made.
"She's definitely excited to hear other people are excited for her."
With files from Shift New Brunswick