Christmas in Hawaii

Hawaiian Christmas traditions include surfing, making sand sculptures, and sipping cocktails by the poolside.

Like most Americans, Hawaiians decorate Christmas trees and gather for a family feast. Hawaiian kids believe in Santa and sing Christmas carols.

However, even such seemingly universal customs have a unique appeal in Hawaii, adapted to local cultural peculiarities.

Christmas Food in Hawaii

Although Hawaii is a part of the U.S., Christmas food on Paradise island is pretty dissimilar to most states. Hawaiian Christmas dinner usually starts with appetizers, including poke, pork hash, or manapua.

Poke is a bowl of raw, diced fish, seaweed, vegetables, edamame beans, and rice. Pork hash is essentially open dumplings with seasoned pork and shrimp mixed with garlic. Manapua, pork pastry with wheat dough, is a must-try for tourists.

Sometimes, manapua is made with potato, ginger, or shoyu chicken. The traditional Hawaiian Christmas main entrée is smoked pork marinated overnight in shoyu, brown sugar, and ginger.

Kalua pork is an all-time Hawaiian cuisine staple; the roasted pig is traditionally served with shredded cabbage. The meat is cooked on hot rocks with banana leaves, giving it a unique flavor.

Many locals favor Lau Lau, a Polynesian traditional dish made with pork, fish, or chicken steamed in taro leaves and served alongside rice. Of course, many Hawaiians cook roast turkey and glazed ham, like all Americans.

However, even such traditional American dishes are a bit different in Hawaii. Turkey is made with pineapples and candied cherries, and ham is typically glazed with honey and pineapple-guava jam.

Seafood is integral to Hawaiian cuisine, so many locals indulge in delicacies like King crab legs dressed in lemon and butter. As a side dish, Hawaiians often serve pasteles – pork, seafood, or beef mixed with plantain and boiled in banana leaves.

Poi is another traditional side dish made with plantain, mashed taro, or breadfruit, with a thick, jelly consistency. Many locals cook Portuguese soup with sausage, veggies, ham, and kidney beans.

A dish familiar to most Americans is macaroni salad with shredded carrots, peas, and tuna, generously coated with mayo. For dessert, Hawaiians prefer Japanese rice cakes or passionfruit cheesecake to Christmas pudding.

Chocolate Haupia cream pie is another popular Hawaiian Christmas dessert, featuring a flaky crust topped with dense chocolate cream and coconut pudding.

Kulolo is a healthy Hawaiian snack often served for Christmas, made from taro roots and coconut milk with a texture resembling caramel fudge.

To embrace the tropical Christmas atmosphere, Hawaiians drink a cocktail with spiced rum, pineapple juice, ginger syrup, and aromatic bitters instead of mulled wine or eggnog.

Christmas Decorations in Hawaii

Hawaiian Christmas decorations don’t typically feature snowflakes, snowmen, and reindeer because such ornaments would clash with the tropical setting. Locals use plenty of greenery in Christmas decorations – thankfully, there’s never a lack of lush plants on the island.

Garlands are a big part of everyday life in Hawaii – few tourists go home without the traditional flower lei. Naturally, Hawaiians also use garlands from flowers, palm leaves, and fruits for Christmas decorations.

Balsam firs and pines aren’t native to the island, so locals either buy imported trees from the U.S. or decorate Norfolk Island pines – tropical trees resembling monkey puzzle trees with pleasingly symmetrical yet scarce branches.

Some people get potted palm trees instead of traditional Christmas trees. For the most part, Hawaiian Christmas tree ornaments are similar to those in other American states – baubles, tinsel, bows, stars, and fairy lights.

However, Hawaiian Christmas trees also feature real flowers, themed figurines of Santa in swim shorts or a leaf skirt, miniature ukuleles, seashells, and fruits.

Hawaiian Advent wreaths are made from poinsettia flowers, palm leaves, seashells, and coconut shells to hold the candles instead of evergreen branches, pinecones, and berries. Many people hang Christmas stockings for gifts.

Hawaiian streets at Christmas glisten in rainbow lights, presenting locals with creative holiday displays and giant Christmas trees made from string lights, flowers, or fruits. It isn’t uncommon to see a decorated Christmas tree or Santa sand sculpture on a Hawaiian beach.

Poinsettias in Hawaii grow as tall as trees and bloom around Christmas, serving as a natural decoration for locals’ gardens and city parks.

Summer Fun

The air temperature in December in Hawaii rarely falls below 77 degrees Fahrenheit, so locals wear swimsuits and slippers instead of a jacket and boots. Hawaiians don’t need to worry about their snowmen melting, but their sandmen might be swept away by the warm tide.

Forget about ice skating, skiing, and dog sledding. Hawaiians can only sled on the sand, but they prefer surfing, kayaking, and diving. Locals don’t have to worry about nasty weather changing their plans and love to spend Christmas outdoors.

Many locals spend their Christmas Day sun tanning, swimming, and sipping cocktails at the beach. Residents of Sheraton in Waikiki go all out with creativity, making Christmas sculptures from sand.

Tourists can fly a helicopter, admire picturesque island views from above, watch for whales, or go hiking.

If you’d like to experience a white Christmas in Hawaii, head to the mountains of Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, or Haleakala. At the tallest mountain peaks, one can even ski, but there are no ski lifts.

City Lights & Parades

Christmas lights are always plentiful in Hawaii, embracing the festive cheer in locals and tourists. If you are in Hawaii for Christmas, take a trolley tour to admire Waikiki holiday displays or attend the Waikiki Christmas Parade.

Waikiki parade isn’t solely a singing and dancing performance – it’s also a masquerade and a full-blown fun fair with various activities for every preference. People can play traditional games, participate in pulling a giant fishnet from the ocean, go on rides, and visit Santa.

Parade attendees can witness a large float procession and the lighting of a Christmas tree alley. Christmas events also occur outside of Honolulu. In Kauai, locals participate in the Lights on Rice Parade with nearly 2,000 performers.

On the Sunday before Christmas, Waimea Christmas Lights Parade takes place on the southwestern side of Hawaii. Here, people can witness matching bands, intricate gingerbread houses, and Santa riding his canoe.

The Waimea Christmas Twilight Parade has been running for over five decades, and residents of Kailua-Kona have hosted the annual Community Christmas Parade for over 30 years.

Residents of the historic town of Lahaina host a Festival of Lights with live music, float procession, games, competitions, and a small Christmas market.

Canoe Pulled by Dolphins

Santa Claus in Hawaii goes under the name Kanakaloka. Although Hawaiian Santa is the same man as Santa Claus in other American states, originating from a fourth-century bishop Saint Nicholas, he dresses according to Hawaii’s warm climate.

Santa changes his red fur-trimmed suit and black leather boots for a flowery shirt, swim shorts, and slippers. He often wears a flower lei on his neck and sunglasses instead of his regular reading glasses.

Now many know that Santa Claus loves to surf and play ukulele – perhaps, he really misses summer activities throughout the year in his residence in the Norwegian village of Rovaniemi.

Unfortunately, reindeer can’t adapt to the climate by changing their clothes, so before visiting Hawaiian kids, Santa lets the reindeer go home and gets into his canoe pulled by dolphins. Sometimes, when he can’t find the dolphins, he’s accompanied by skilled paddlers.

Every year on December 9, Santa arrives at Waikiki Beach Resort to meet local kids and happily takes pictures with everyone. Hawaiian Santa doesn’t slip into houses through chimneys but through windows.

Like all American kids, Hawaiian children leave treats for Santa, but cookies are usually replaced with local desserts like mochi or Kulolo.

Gift Exchange & Midnight Mass

Like many Americans, devoted Hawaiians attend the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve before exchanging gifts and indulging in festive foods.

Although going to church isn’t a typical activity on the Hawaiian tourist to-do list, the island is famous for its historical churches built in the 19th century.

Makahiki

Before Christmas, Hawaiians celebrated the Makahiki festival of harvest, lasting from late October to February. Throughout the four months of Makahiki, people were supposed to rest and eat traditional foods to celebrate the local god, Lono.

People would pray for abundance, peace, good health, fertility, and prosperity of their land. Makahiki’s importance declined with the arrival of Christianity, but locals continue to honor the ancient tradition.

Nowadays, Makahiki isn’t celebrated for four months but for a weekend in early December. Locals dance, sing, and play games, and some communities have festive parades.

Hawaiian Carols

Hawaiian Christmas carols are the same as in the U.S. – Jingle Bells, Silent Night, and Silver Bells, with one important distinction – they’re sung in Hawaiian. Bing Crosby even had an entire album of Hawaiian Christmas songs.

Some of the most popular tracks on the island are Here Comes Santa in His Red Canoe by The Surfers, Kana Kaloka/Here Comes Santa Claus by Na Leo Pilimehana, and Medley: Winter Wonderland/ Hawaiian Santa by The Makaha Sons.

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