“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like Eskimos”
As I listen to this song while shopping at an outdoor market where the sun is shining, even at 5:50 PM in the afternoon and the temperature is 80 degrees, I know that the holidays are different here – weird in many ways.
It started with Thanksgiving. There are hundreds of wild turkeys running around so the images are what I am used to but that’s it. Everyone still cooks turkey and gravy – but often in a pit like they cook pigs for Luaus. Added to the regular things for Thanksgiving often are dishes that are Hawaiian or Japanese or even Samoan. The diverse cultures here are very strong and as a white person I often feel a bit out of place in the shopping areas where locals shop.
The day after Thanksgiving people often put up their trees. The trees are shipped in from Oregon and California and are very expensive - $60 often for a small tree. The lights go up on houses- often with Santa and a sleigh or a snowman or other winter theme. Yet it is warm and no one here sees snow unless they go to the top of Mauna Kea after a storm.
Other music I have heard includes Christmas songs sung in Hawaiian. The tune is familiar but I do not understand the words. I have been struck with how having another language makes this state so different from our other 49. This really is another country that happens to be a state. And I am sad to read about the history of this state. I have learned that the US basically invaded and took over a foreign land. We brought disease and creatures that destroyed so much of the native animals, plants and way of life. The missionaries shamed the people so deeply that even today most Hawaiians are the most dressed- even at the beaches.
But back to the holidays. The poinsettias are blooming. They are large bushes – like our roddies in the northwest and they are covered in brilliant red flowers, often double flowers.
I love to celebrate the solstice – the return of the light, but in Hawaii, the change in daylight is only about 1 ½ hours over the year. All the symbolic tales of the child being born at the darkest time of year, of hope and faith returning in the dark just doesn’t seem to connect with my experience here.
I am told that New Years will bring many fireworks. We in Seattle know about this but for folks back east – the tradition comes from Asia and it makes the New Year noisy and bright.
I am missing the holidays in the north. I find I am so surprised by that because I have so often found them to be stressful and not enjoyable. This year is giving me so many new perspectives. They are my gifts this year.
