Mele Kalikimaka and Houli Makahiki Hou

Mele Kalikimaka! Our Hawaiian Christmas wouldn’t be complete without sending out the obligatory card with the Hawaiian Christmas salutation or hearing Bing Crosby croon the words at us over the radio as we complete our shopping. Being a more recent transplant to Maui, I was curious (as many mainlanders’ are) about what Mele Kalikimaka meant . Of course, it means Merry Christmas, but how did the words come to mean that? 

I had expected to find a break down of the words into other Hawaiian words when translated, like hau'oli (happy), makahiki (year), hou (new). But instead upon a simple investigation finding that Mele Kalikimaka was a loan word - literally taking the English word “Merry Christmas” and turning it into a Hawaiian word by phonetically breaking down the English sounds and modifying them to their Hawaiian equivalent;

Standard Hawaiian does not have the /r/ sound, so it is replaced with an ‘L” and /s/ is replaced with a “k” and its phonotactic constraints do not permit consonants at the end of syllables or consonant clusters. Thus Merry Christmas becomes Mele Kalikimaka. So cool!

I always enjoy learning more about my new home and I am grateful for the chance to share what I’ve learned with you all. I hope everyone joins me in wishing all a Mele Kalikimaka and a hau'oli makahiki hou! 

Elf Kathy, Makawao History Museum's board member; with Makawao paniolo

Christmas in Makawao started with Santa’s helpers riding into town