As I have mentioned before, the first piece of America I moved to was Honolulu, Hawaii. This is a place where I learned English and it’s also where I learned to sing Christmas carols. Well, it so happens that a lot of Christmas carols are pretty different in Hawaii! When I sang the Twelve Days of Christmas in the car the other day my hubby thought that I was making up lyrics to songs again. (I am guilty of making up lyrics to songs I don’t know to annoy my hubby sometimes) Then I told him that I learned these songs in Hawaii and he said that I learned them wrong! How rude! So today I shall sing these songs on my blog without reserve the ways Hawaiians do!
The Twelve Days of Christmas (Singing Day Twelve Only)
Numbah twelve day of Christmas
My tutu gave to me!
Twelve TELEVISION!
Eleven missionary!
Ten can of beer!
Nine pound of poi!
Eight ukulele!
Seven shrimp a-swimmin’!
Seex hula lesson!
FIVE BIG FAT peeeeeeeeeeeeeeegs!
Foah flowah lei!
Tree dry squid!
Two coconut,
An’ one mynah bird in da papaya tree!
Footnotes: tutu is a grandmother, and a mynah bird is a pretty common bird in Hawaii and I think they can be trained to talk. Once I had a baby mynah bird that fell out of a nest and I fed it watermelon and bread, but it died of diarrhea. Now onto the next song!
Po La`i E,Po Kamaha`o (Silent Night, Holy Night)
Po la`i e, po kamaha`o,
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaluhia, malamalama
Ka makuahine aloha e
Me ke keiki hemolele e
Moe me ka maluhia lani
Moe me ka maluhia lani
Po la`i e, po kamaha`o,
Oni na kahu hipa e
I ko ka lani nani no
Mele na `anela haleluia.
Hanau `ia Kristo ka haku.
Hanau `ia Kristo ka haku.
Po la`i e, po kamaha`o,
Keiki hiwahiwa aloha e,
Ka lama la`i mai luna mai
Me ka lokomaika`i makamae.
Iesu i kou hanau `ana.
Iesu i kou hanau `ana.
And finally, Mele Kalikimaka!!
Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That’s the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way
To say “Merry Christmas to you.”
Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That’s the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way
To say, “Merry Christmas,
A very Merry Christmas to you.
Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
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3 comments ↓
very good! Merry Christmas to you! Thanks for giving this good memory for us.
In my family, the 10 cans of beer would last longer than the 9 pounds of poi.
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