Christmas in Hawaiʻi

Christmas, a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, is marked by unique traditions. The American Christian missionaries in Hawaiʻi often criticized the holiday. They rarely observed the Christmas holiday in any uniform or celebratory way.

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions funded churches and schools in Hawaiʻi beginning in 1820. The group traced their religious roots to the Puritans. The Puritans banned the observance of the Christmas holiday in 1659. Massachusetts did not make the holiday legal until 1856. President Ulysses S. Grant made Christmas a federal holiday in 1870.

By the mid-19th century, the people of Hawaiʻi celebrated Christmas in some familiar ways with gifts and decorating. The very first issue of the Hilo Daily Tribune, published on November 23, 1895, carried an advertisement for the Kanai Store on Bridge Street. The business sold Japanese Groceries and Provisions and advertised “Christmas Goods a Specialty.” In the Hawaii Herald on December 24, 1896, lawyer David H. Hitchcock recalled how the American community had decorated the First Foreign Church in 1868 with maile lei, ferns, and bamboo as well as inviting Santa to entertain and give gifts to the children.

The following images document Christmas events from 1833 to the 1980s. Lyman Museum preserves more than 40,000 Hawaiʻi-related photographs on a variety of subjects. The Archives is open for research by appointment. Learn more at https://lymanmuseum.org/archives/research-collection/.

Without mentioning the Christmas holiday, missionary Sarah Lyman wrote in her diary on December 25, 1833: “We broached a bottle of cider today, which we brought from home with us, and found it very excellent.” Since David and Sarah Lyman left Vermont in November 1831, the cider had aged, and the couple took a rare moment of celebration. Vermonters often made fermented cider and considered it a healthy drink. The American temperance movement sought to restrict distilled spirits, such as brandy, rum, and whiskey. The same activists often accepted cider, beer, and wine with milder levels of alcohol.
St. Joseph Catholic Church, ca. 1880. For the Roman Catholic priests from Europe and their Portuguese parishioners, Christmas was particularly popular. On December 31, 1896, the Hawaii Herald noted that St. Joseph Church hosted midnight Mass on Christmas Eve conducted by Father Maxime and High Mass on Christmas morning by Father Bonaventure.
Haili Church, ca. 1900. This Hawaiian Church was established in 1824. Congregationalists, including those who pastored at Haili, criticized the Christmas holiday for three reasons: it was not noted in Scripture, it was usually a wild event with drinking and revelry, and its traditions had pagan origins. Despite their origins, candle-lighting, caroling, and decorating evergreen trees grew in popularity. On December 24, 1896, the Hawaii Herald reported that “The Christmas Tree and exercises of the Haili Sunday School will be in the Haili Church at 7 o’clock, Christmas night.”
Color postcard offers “With Best Christmas Wishes” with two illustrations: a bird on a holly branch and a snow scene with sheep and a shepherd. The postcard was sent from Hawaiʻi to Albert Lyman U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York on December 22, 1906.
Christmas card with a Chinese snow scene. The card and note, dated December 8, 1945, was sent from Levi and Nettie Lyman in Hilo to Helen Hammond, Nettie’s niece in Indiana. The card’s sale benefited the United China Relief.
Decorating the Christmas tree, Hilo Methodist Church, December 16, 1962.
Christmas decorations hanging over Kamehameha Avenue with First National Bank in the background, December 19, 1968. The building now houses the Pacific Tsunami Museum.
Hilo Hospital staff with a decorated Christmas tree, ca. 1980.

BOOK NOW