General Information
Informant: Naia Morse
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: 11/9/21
Genre/Form of Folklore: Customary/ Material
Title: Christmas in Hawaii
Informant Data: Naia Morse is a student at Dartmouth College – a member of the 2022 class. Naia lives on The Big Island of Hawaii, where she was born. She majors in economics modified with engineering and is involved in the student-led organization “Hokupaʻa”, created by and for students who are from or are connected to the Pacific Islands.
Contextual Data: Christmas in Hawaii is a major annual celebration, as in most of the Western world. The different cultures and ethnic groups that have settled in the Hawaiian Islands celebrate the Christmas traditions of Hawaii in their own unique ways, which may be religious or plainly secular. Even Santa Claus (Hawaiian: Kanakaloka) himself is not wearing his traditional red and white suit but has swapped it for flowery Hawaiian clothes instead.
Social Data: This item of folklore was collected through a face-to-face interview of the informant just before the beginning of the Christmas season.
Item: Christmas, a holiday honoring the birth of Jesus, has evolved into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian and pagan traditions into the festivities – observed primarily on December 25th. Different types of decorations developed across various cultures and local traditions.
Transcript:
Collector: “How does you and/or your family go about decorating your house during the Christmas season? What sorts of decorations do you put up every year and what factors do you think influence this decorative style?”
Informant: Well, I’d say since we’re slightly disconnected from traditional American holidays and celebrations… Christmas isn’t as traditionally festive in Hawaii, but we’re festive in our own way. Something cool about Hawaii is we have our Christmas trees shipped to us in refrigerated containers. I wouldn’t say we decorate outside of your typical seasonal house decorations. Most decorations are Christmas trees, poinsettias, lights, depictions of Santa in Hawaiian shirts. And everyone decorates the palm trees with Christmas lights.”
Informant Comment:
It’s Christmas but Hawaiian style.
Collector Comment:
I’ve heard of some roof decorations in Hawaii during Christmas that depict Santa on a surfboard being pulled forward by dolphins rather than reindeer. The Hawaiian Islands, even though they are American, share unique Christmas customs unlike the other forty-nine states. It’s clear that Hawaii decoration during Christmas time is heavily influenced by their own cultural celebrations previously, and their current culture.
Collected by:
Joshua Betts, 21
Bradenton, FL
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS 013
Fall 2021