American Hawaiian Christmas a Century Ago

Descendants of Rice Family Missionary Gathered for Holiday

Dec 7, 2008 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Grandma Rice first gathered the Hawaiian clan in 1905 at her Kaua'i home, "Hale Nani" (beautiful home). This nostalgic Christmas Day tradition spanned three decades.

Festivities began at noon. About 40 family members in their holiday best arrived at the sprawling, one-story house of sanded native woods. A porte-cochere welcomed guests to the big lanai covered by lauhala mats and rocking chairs. Fern baskets hung from rafters. A large painted cloth welcome mural with the word “Aloha” was formed with blossoms from luxuriant tropical gardens.

The house included a large living room with 'oh’ia floors covered with Persian carpets and furnished in mahogany and oak. There was a spacious dining room, music room, two kitchens with their pantries, and six bedrooms.

Three Christmas Dinner Tables

Grandmother Rice set three tables, one in the dining room, one in the big hall, and the children’s table out on the lanai. Each sported white damask cloths with crystal bowls of red carnations surrounded by swags of scented green vine and ferns that accentuated green-bordered porcelain plates.

Mrs. William Henry Rice’s beautiful voice started the sung blessing. Everyone joined in. The first course was on the table. It was either succulent Hawaiian oranges or big red apples filled with fruit cocktail.

Next came oyster soup. This was Grandmother Rice’s triumph. Months before Christmas she ordered oysters from San Francisco. They were shipped in barrels of salt water filled with oatmeal, which the oysters devoured enroute to the islands. They arrived in Nawiliwili harbor fresh, fat and delicious.

Each table had a big roast turkey with chestnut dressing, accompanied by mashed potatoes and creamed onions. Canned peas and canned asparagus salad were served as a treat; neither grew in the islands. Cranberries fresh from the coast provided big bowls of cranberry jelly and sauce.

Liquor Ban Lifted for Plum Pudding

Liquor was never served then by missionary descendants, but an exception was made for plum puddings. The flaming pudding was the signal to the children that soon gifts would be distributed.

After dinner, the family moved to the music room, where a Norfolk pine glowed with real candles. Electricity didn't come to Kaua’i until the ‘20s. The beautiful pine with thick, symmetrical branches was resplendent with peacocks with spun glass tails, golden bugles, silver bells, handmade balls and hand-painted toys. The children’s favorite was little baskets of blown glass strawberries.

After gifts were exchanged the children ran outside to play. Tiny tots went for naps and grownups caught up on family news.

The women's elaborately tucked and embroidered long dresses were often accented with Irish or Cluny lace. Most sewed beautifully and their daughters reflected their skills.

Juliet (Rice) Wichman and Edith (Rice) Plews remembered one Christmas when they wore identical handkerchief linen dresses embroidered by their mother. Edith wore a wide pink taffeta sash and matching hair ribbons; Juliet’s outfit was trimmed with blue.

Hawaiian Serenaders

Before long Hawaiian serenaders arrived. There were four or five men in the choral group. They sang old Hawaiian songs, never Christmas carols. The children were hushed and enchanted by the music’s magic and flowing Hawaiian words. It was the perfect end to a joyous family Christmas.

This Christmas observance took place in the home of William Hyde Rice (1846-1924) and his wife, the former Mary Waterhouse. At one time he was governor of Kaua’i. His parents, William Harrison Rice (1813-1862) and Mary Sophia Hyde, came to Hawaii as missionaries on the Gloucester in 1841, establishing a clan which has burgeoned throughout the islands into the sixth and seventh generations.

(Additional information on this and other Rice families is available from the Rice Book Project.)

SOURCES: Eyre, Cynthia, “Christmas on Kaua’i,” December, 1983 issue, Historic Hawaii News; the Rice family Book Project.

The copyright of the article American Hawaiian Christmas a Century Ago in American History is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish American Hawaiian Christmas a Century Ago in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.