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While many of us have an image in our heads of a typical American Christmas which looks like an amalgam of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, most of us don’t actually celebrate the holiday in the same way. We’re of different religious sects, different religions, different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and even different languages.
Many of my father’s family, for example, will be celebrating in Hawaii, attending church services where English may be a second language during the course of the service. The last time I celebrated Christmas in Hawaii, the entire service was delivered in Hawaiian and English, with hymns sung in Filipino, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Spanish and English. The parish was all that and more; it was beautiful to see their different faces so rapt in songs of their own tongue.
Some of my favorite Christmas songs are performed in Hawaiian; I’ll leave you with two videos of kama’aina who perform these easily recognizable melodies with simple grace and beauty. How will your family be celebrating the holiday today? Do share in comments.
Wishing Mele Kalikimaka to you and yours.
57 Comments
Thanks Rayne! I like the videos. If we had been smart enough to adopt more of the Hawaiian culture instead of trying to force them to conform more to ours, we’d be in much better shape.
Seconded. For ANY of the indigenous cultures.
Thanks for the videos, I love the sounds of the Pacific languages.
The night started with a traditional family stew. It used to be a chore for the kids, since no presents are opened until everyone has had their fill. Now they’re all 20somethings, so we sit at the Christmas dinner table for an hour or more. Everybody’s got a camera. As you said, it’s good to see and be with people that happy.
Then we open gifts. The role of Santa this year was played by one of my three nieces, Katy, the middle girl, a living doll who’s also a terror on the soccer pitch. My eldest niece, Brenda, and I have a strong bond. She took to me as a toddler. And there are twin boys, who’ve just graduated from trade schools and have very promising careers ahead of them.
I’d be very interested in hearing about the legends and lore of Hawaii.
Merry birth of the Ever Living / Ever Dying Savior in your own heart, and in the hearts of all sentient beings.
I bow in all y’all’s virtual directions (Coriolis correction requested. Not responsible for lost or stolen salutations. This offer voids upon reading. Self-emptying, you see, is the order of our day.)
dp
Hauoli Makahiki Hou!
Mornin’, Rayne, pups
A special greeting to those whose family is short a member from last year.
(((Kobe)))
(((katymine)))
(((Charlie)))
(((mr barbara)))
(((Gigi)))
(((mr prairie sunshine)))
My apologies if I’ve missed anyone. Feel free to add to the list.
Namaste
Nam myoho renge kyo
aww, what a sweet remembrance, SD
(((hugs to their families)))
Nice, SD…Add Angela’s other family. A loss and a blessing….isn’t that the way.
Mele Kalikimaka!
Thanks, PaulaT. There’s something good in almost every culture, and something bad as well. If only we could keep all the good parts…one thing I have always appreciated about Hawaiian culture was the importance that gays had upon the preservation of its art and language. Without the mahou (gays), we might have lost big portions of the hula and Hawaiian language as many mahou kept them even though being actively suppressed by white culture.
knowbuddhau — I can recommend a couple of great books on Hawaiian culture. Hawaiian Mythology, by Martha Beckwith, and Pele: Goddess of Hawai’i's Volcanoes, by Herb Kawainui Kane (actually, almost anything by this author is good stuff).
dakine01 — Aloha kakou, brah!
Beautiful, Rayne. Thank you!
Mele Kalikimaka! (phonic pronunciation?)
Peace.
Mele Kalikimaka Rayne and Firedogs -
oooh a favorite Christmas memory was of a church service in Tahiti – my first Holiday without my family, feeling increasingly blue, walking back to the hotel, only to hear this fabulous chorus of voices outside a small church – a late arriving local invited me in – da best !
My husband and I are home together with all our four-legged, furry kids this Christmas Day with my favorite Nat King Cole Christmas CD playing over and over. I’m making our traditional tofurky, dressing, sweet potatoes, peas, and cranberry sauce. Our Christmas funds went to rescuing a six-month-old pitbull puppy we found running along the railroad tracks here in Clarkston (outside Atlanta – the gift of Michael Vick just keeps on giving). We are joyous that Elliott (the least gangsta/thug name we could think of) is now fully vetted, neutered, microchipped, and looking forward to finding his forever home (he’s not fond of kitties – or rather he is fond of them in the wrong way – or else we would be his forever home already). Merry Christmas to everyone!
Congratulations, what a good and kind deed.
and what a lovely name (if I must say so myself;)
Dedicated to you and your rescue.
Good on you. Thanks and a Merry Christmas.
(((Marie Roget)))
(((persi)))
yes yes (((dahlin !)))
have happened in to a new personal tradition – I hit the busier Holiday youtubes – just to read the messages of goodwill and peace from people all over the world
at 8 million hits, this is probably one of the busiest – just lovvve those comments
That’s a happy idea.
I remember the fun of watching New Year 2000 come in across the globe, and the warm comfort of the worldwide messages of sympathy and solidarity right after 9/11. Thanks for the idea.
(And besides, who wouldn’t want Johnny Depp for Christmas ;)
Uh, moi?
lol!
Who would you pick?
Moksha Sommer
Well, okay, if you like young, beautiful women. *g*
yeah, I can see the attraction.
Any mimosas left?
here *clink*
Aren’t all women young and beautiful?
In the dark, you betcha. We are all of us young and beautiful.
In our hearts, yes.
That’s where it counts.
Of course. But, still I know you wouldn’t kick out someone with a bikini body.
Don’t put any money on that. *g*
Thanks, cbl. Dang, he’s so cute.
I’m dreaming of a global Christmas.
Actually, I was convinced that this morning only happens at my house. /s
Ha. Thought I’d just give you people (ha) a smile.
boogiecheck (9) — phonetic: meh-leh kah-lee-kee-mah-kah
Vowels in Hawaiian are very, very similar to those in Latin or Romance languages. Just make sure to pronounce them all and you’ll be close. It takes a little time to figure out which words have dipthongs, but it’s better to simply try than not to.
billthechowchow (12) — oh, I wish I had a Nat King Cole CD with nothing but Christmas tunes. Maybe I’ll have to ask for that next year. In the mean time I’m listening to a couple of Hawaiian favorites, including Hawaiian Slack Key Christmas and Ki Ho’alu Christmas.
If I keep this up I may have to scrap the ham we have planned and start some kalua pig for dinner.
Without the NKC CD this year, at least treat yourself to him singing “Oh Holy Night” if you can find it online. Divine!
Got it right here — it’s been a YouTube Christmas here.
All time singing favorite!
Um, my 22 year old son went to church with us last night. Neat. And, then he slept on the couch here. We’re watching Family Guy dvd’s. The family that laughs together…
Thanks, baby. Wanna mini-quiche? Or a cinnamon roll with orange frosting?
oo I’ll try the mini-quiche, thank you
Spinach or cheese?
either ;)
Good morning, everyone.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Hey, Twain. Cookie?
Thanks – love cookies.
Merry Merry!
Hi. Must be too early for the trolls so it’s nice and quiet before I have to start cooking. I felt like yelling “Peace on earth” several times yesterday.
We’re here because we love this place and the community. The trolls are wherever they love, too — which probably explains in part why they aren’t here.
Oh, and some are paid to be trolls; today being unpaid, well, they aren’t here to harass us.
As Elliott says, Merry merry!
My vet sent this card out this year. I really like this.
Santa Claus and Paws
Ahhh. I just got up and there you were! I left my heart in Hawaii. Thanks.
Good morning–merry merry to all! Mr. Votus and I will have shrimp cocktails today, followed by spanokopita, a Greek spinach–ricotta savory pie, followed up by (correct me if I am wrong) an idea presented by cbl2 at some point in the past for a devil’s food cake with cherries. (I have gotten so many good recipes and food ideas from fdl–thank you for that!) I kind of did my own take on her great idea–I make the cake from scratch and add a good hit of cherry brandy to the mix–it’s wonderful served with vanilla ice cream. Our four kittehs will be getting catnip pillows handmade by my mother–velvet or ultrafleece filled with lovely catnip–they will soon be in heaven!
The way that my family has celebrated Xmas for the last 40 years and that all 4 of our kids are continuing is this. No decorations, no xmas tree, no xmas presents that wind up broke or forgotten in a closet in 1 month. No, what we have always done is help the homeless/poor on xmas day. Cook some meals or like my wife and I did in her tavern every xmas day, throw open the doors, everything on the menu free to all who enter. That started out small in the early 80s but after a couple of years we started getting help, people just walking in and helping to bus tables and wash dishes, helping us bring food to the tables, then a couple more started helping with the cooking. That this is still ongoing after my wife sold the tavern to our daughter is great. The entire town gets together. My daughter sent me an E-mail and said that they had already served over 400 meals today(our record was 600)and that at least 100 people are waiting in line outside. My kids did not really understand why we did what we did every xmas but started to get the idea when they got to be teens. Now they are all married and have kids of their own and are spread out all over the country, yet each continues what we started before they were born. One good side effect is that the kids outgrew the what am “I” gonna get for xmas stage quickly. This service to those who are less able to celebrate, this IMPO is the real meaning of xmas. Now my wife and I are off to help cook xmas meals for the homeless and poor in our new town. While we are not xristians, we feel that this is something that needs doing. May Buddha bless you. Have a happy new year.
Votus – spanakopita! Opa! hope to have some of that tomorrow along with baklava!
timr — sounds like a delightful Christmas holiday! hope it’s a good one today for your family and the community you serve.
I will be thinking of you enjoying two of my favorite foods!
See our King Obama knew where to go for Christmas.
While millions of us were lucky if we got to where we were going for Christmas, we paid for Him to fly off in Air Force One on our dime to Hawaii to enjoy those songs and the sun while we suffer.
While probably twenty percent of the people in this Country are lucky if they can enjoy any Christmas this year, our President and our lovely people in Congress will celibrate to the hilt.
Those on the left patting their backs for passing bills, and those on the right for doing their best to oppose the other side.
All while our Government did nothing to re-regulate the Banks, nothing to end the wars, nothing to fix all our other problems like unemployment and a busted economy. They shrugged off the debt and deficites, and the unsustainability of SS and Medicare. They haven’t demanded a moratorium on foreclosiers, or even stopped the credit card companies from ripping us off. They have done nothing to get us off foreign oil or to stop burning coal for power. In short other than the almost useless healthcare bill our Government has failed us.
You see while they all enjoy their Christmas, they won’t be thinking of the people they didn’t help, or those not as fortunate as them to be on our payroll.
Merry Christmas everybody, but keep in the back of your minds how much better off we all could be if we had a Government that worked.
A tip for the repubs out there, it’s not the size of Government that matters, it’s whether it works or not.
Really. Is flying to Hawaii for a week, back to the place where he grew up, this big a deal?
I seem to recall a guy who took off for an entire month every year to head to Texas, blowing off PDBs. He cost us one helluva lot more money and lives.
I’m not going to begrudge the current guy a week of vacation.