We're half way through the Twelve Days of Christmas! Having grown up with a grandmother who was Ukrainian Orthodox, I know that the Christmas season actually begins with Christmas Day and leads up to the Feast of the Epiphany. One of the great things about living in Hawaii, especially in areas with a lot of that old Hawaii flavor such as my home community of Hawi - Kapaau in North Kohala on the Big Island, is the fabulous mix of ethnicities keeping alive their cultural traditions within the American and Hawaiian contexts.
On the radio from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, we hear Christmas carols sung by Hawaiian artists in versions that include beautiful translations of lyrics into the Hawaiian language often with ukulele and slack key guitar accompaniment. But my favorite local version is more pidgen than Hawaiian, and our local credit union decorated for the holidays by illustrating the verses of Twelve Days of Christmas, local style.
Yes, that's 11 missionaries, 10 cans of beer, 9 pounds of poi....and one mynah bird in one papaya tree!
Tonight being New Year's Eve, the neighborhood families are getting ready for their backyard parties with competitive fireworks, a tradition in many parts of Asia. Many of these families honor their Hawaiian heritage by cooking dinner in an imu, the pit you may have seen at a hotel luau. No need to feel restricted to the usual kalua pig, here's a sampling of what came out of the potluck imu we were invited to contribute to last year: duck, fish, lamb, whole pumpkins, taro - and some traditional lau lau. We picked green beans, eggplant and tomatoes from the garden for a fabulous New Year's Day meal.
Hau'oli Makahiki Hou - Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous 2010!
Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)
Direct: 808.443.4588 Email: beth@hawaiilife.com
PS--see what my broker at Hawaii Life thought were the 10 best things about 2009
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