Christmas Tree Firsts in Hawaiʻi
Cover Image: Masthead of The Pacific Commercial Advertiser published on December 30, 1858.
The first mention of a Christmas tree in Hawaiʻi appears to have been in 1858. On the 30th of December, The Pacific Commercial Advertiser ran an article on Mrs. [Mary] Dominis and her “magnificent ‘Christmas Tree’” at Washington Place.
Image: “Christmas,” The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 30, 1858, p. 2
Among the random news appearing in Ka Lahui Hawaii on December 23, 1875, there is mention of the first Christmas tree in a Hawaiian church.
Image: “E malamaia ana e ka Ahahui Kula Sabati o Kawaiahao…,” Ka Lahui Hawaii, December 23, 1875, p. 3, as seen online (digitized from microfilm).
The Kawaiahaʻo Sunday School Association will hold a Christmas gathering on the grounds of that church. The students will have a parade at 9 o’clock in the morning, and thereafter an assembly will be held in the church which will be decorated with something new, that being a Christmas Tree (he kumu lāʻau Karisimaka). This is the very first time that this sort of gaiety will take place in the Hawaiian churches of ours, and it will be something new for the youngsters. The tree will be laden with fruit and adorned with verdure.
Image: Christmas trees stacked in a warehouse at Honolulu Harbor after being unloaded in about 1955. At the time, trees from the Pacific Northwest were simply piled on the open decks of ships and therefore arrived in Hawaiʻi days later in poor condition. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the trees began to be shipped in refrigerated containers, keeping them greener and fresher. Photo by Irving Rosen. Bishop Museum Archives, SP 221588
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
Well over half a century later on January 3, 1940, in her regular column in Ka Hoku o Hawaii, Alice Kanoekaapunionalani Kunane Banham reports on people on Maui decorating Christmas trees in their own yards.
Image: Banham, Mrs., “Na Hunahuna Mea Hou O Maui,” Ka Hoku o Hawaii, January 3, 1940, p. 1.
Bits of Maui News
(Written by “Kanoekaapunionalani”)
Activities commemorating Christmas on Maui last year were truly fine, even if raindrops did fall.
Various homes took steps by decorating a tree in the front of their yard as a Christmas tree, being that most of the Christmas trees from America were dried. This did not hamper the decorating.
🎄 While “Kalikimaka” is the usual Hawaiian spelling for Christmas today, through the years it has been spelt many ways. “Karisimaka,” “Karisemaka,” “Kalitimaka,” and “Carisimaka” are but a few. How many historical spellings found in the Hawaiian language newspapers can you list?
Image: Christmas in Hawaiʻi in the late 1960s, when young Norfolk pine trees first began being used as locally grown Christmas trees. Lawrence Hata Collection. Bishop Museum Archives, SP 223242
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org.
This post is part of He Aupuni Palapala: Preserving and Digitizing the Hawaiian Language Newspapers, a partnership between Bishop Museum and Awaiaulu with assistance from Kamehameha Schools. Mahalo nui loa to Hawaii Tourism Authority for their support. Learn more about this project here.
