What It's Really Like To Celebrate Christmas In Hawaii

In Hawaii, you say "Mele Kalikimaka" rather than "Merry Christmas." But that's not actually Hawaiian it's just as close to Hawaiian as it could get. As noted by Professor David Strauch at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Hawaiian languageonly has 12 letters in its alphabet. "Mele Kalikimaka" is a direct phonetic rendering

In Hawaii, you say "Mele Kalikimaka" rather than "Merry Christmas." But that's not actually Hawaiian — it's just as close to Hawaiian as it could get.

As noted by Professor David Strauch at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Hawaiian language only has 12 letters in its alphabet. "Mele Kalikimaka" is a direct phonetic rendering of "Merry Christmas," with Christmas having been imported in 1820 by the missionaries. These direct phonetic renderings are common, especially with names. For example, Amy becomes Ame, George becomes Keoki, Lisa becomes Lika, and Aaron becomes Aalona. It's popular for tourists to find their Hawaiian name when they go to visit Hawaii. If they go for Christmas, they may even be able to find their Hawaiian name on a stocking. The lack of letters in the Hawaiian language is what can also make many Hawaiian words feel somewhat inscrutable: The repetitive nature of the words can be difficult for non-native speakers to grasp. 

Interestingly, the Polynesian languages are all very similar to each other despite large geographic gaps — but there are differences in which letters exist in which language. Hawaii doesn't have the "t" sound, but Tahitian does. Likewise, Tahitian replaces the "w" sound with the "v" sound. In Hawaiian, a woman is a "wahine" — in Tahitian, a woman is a "vehine."

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