Thanksgiving in Hawaiʻi

I celebrated my first Thanksgiving living in Hawaiʻi eating turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy on a bar stool at Moku Kitchen on Oʻahu. It was 2017. If I had closed my eyes, it would have felt like I was back in San Francisco less than a year earlier.

Since then, I've experienced several iterations of Thanksgiving in Hawaiʻi, diving deeper into the politics of the holiday and seeing how it is celebrated across different communities.

Thanksgiving, or "A Day of Gratitude" — a name some use to avoid the classic colonial narrative — is celebrated throughout Hawaiʻi in the way one might experience a family lūʻau. The table incorporates American, Hawaiian and Asian dishes, reflecting the demographics of the islands. It is held during the time of year Hawaiʻi also celebrates the coming harvest — a three-month-long festival called Makahiki — and during a period when Hawaiʻi was still a sovereign nation, around Lā Kūʻokoʻa, or Hawaiian Independence Day.

Hawaiʻi began celebrating Thanksgiving in 1849. According to the proclamation King Kamehameha III made in the Honolulu newspaper The Friend, Thanksgiving was celebrated on Dec. 31 until 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November the legal holiday for Thanksgiving.

Centuries before Captain Cook arrived at the Hawaiian Islands, opening the floodgates for Westerners, Native Hawaiians celebrated Makahiki. This was a time of year to honor Lono, the god of agriculture, putting forth intentions for a prosperous, rainy harvest season. For months, Hawaiians played games and sports, danced, played music, cooked and rested. It was a time for peace and gratitude, when war was kapu, or banned. Foods such as whole pigs, ʻulu (breadfruit) and kalo (taro) were cooked in imu covered with banana and tī leaves, hot stones and dirt — similar to a pressure cooker built into the ground.

In Kailua, Julie Baumgartner's family attends an annual Day of Gratitude celebration with both imu and classic American dishes like stuffing, yams with marshmallows and an entire table of various desserts.

"All of the meat goes into the imu overnight," Julie Baumgartner said. "Some of the neighbors throw in their meat as well." Around 24 turkeys are cooked for about 13 to 14 hours. Baumgartner said they inform the fire department ahead of time, so they don't worry about all the smoke.

Nonprofit organizations such as KEY Project in Kaneohe and Hoʻoulu ʻĀina in Kalihi prepare imu for their communities during the Thanksgiving weekend as well. According to KEY Project's website, "approximately 350 turkeys make their way into the ground for the night, and come out bright and early Thanksgiving morning where our network of teamwork gets busy sorting and distributing them all while still hot."

Not everyone eats an imu-cooked turkey on Thanksgiving. One of my friends likes to deep-fry his turkey; another wrapped hers in bacon before sliding it into the oven. Sometimes there is sashimi, mac salad or purple Okinawa sweet potatoes on the table. The dishes reflect the various heritages found across the islands. Sometimes these dishes mingle with American Thanksgiving classics like green bean casserole; sometimes they don't. The most important part is that loved ones gather and feast.

Another local-style dish you will find at Thanksgiving in Hawaiʻi is pumpkin crunch — typically a sheet cake topped with pumpkin custard, whipped cream and candied pecans, although there are multiple variations. I've seen this in homes or on restaurant menus in lieu of pumpkin pie.

As the holiday also falls near Lā Kūʻokoʻa, some put more emphasis on celebrating Hawaiian Independence Day rather than Thanksgiving. On Nov. 28, 1843, Great Britain and France signed the Anglo-Franco Proclamation, officially recognizing the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign nation after Hawaiʻi had sent diplomats to Europe to protect their independence. For the next 50 years, Lā Kūʻokoʻa was celebrated as a national holiday throughout the Hawaiian Kingdom, with parades, speeches and feasts of its own.

The overlap between the two holidays isn't a coincidence, either. Five years after the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the legislature of the Republic of Hawaii designated Nov. 28 — the same date as Lā Kūʻokoʻa — as the official Thanksgiving Day. Historians and Hawaiian cultural advocates have pointed to this as a deliberate move to overshadow the independence holiday, and it largely worked: For generations, many people in Hawaiʻi have celebrated Thanksgiving without ever learning about Lā Kūʻokoʻa at all.

Acknowledging Lā Kūʻokoʻa is important, as Native Hawaiians still grieve the effects of colonization and annexation to this day, and Thanksgiving can be a reminder of that.

To find Thanksgiving events throughout the Hawaiian Islands visit our Event Page.

5 Hawaiʻi Hotels Celebrating Thanksgiving this Year:

Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa (Oʻahu) — This year, Hyatt will serve prime rib, herb-roasted turkey, fresh seafood and made-to-order sushi. $110 per adult, half-off for kids ages 6-12, $5.99 for kids 5 and under.

Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa, A Waldorf Astoria Resort (Maui) — Thanksgiving begins with football on big screen TVs, continues with a brunch brunch buffet featuring raw seafood bar alongside Thanksgiving classics and a choice of either prix fix Thanksgiving dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants or a special Thanksgiving lūʻau.

Four Seasons Resort Lanai (Lānaʻi) — Choose from Nancy Silvertonʻs Osteria Mozza Lanai featuring roasted turkey, Kurobuta porchetta, pizzas, antipasti, pasta, charcuterie and desserts, or Sensei by Nobu, which will have a a prix fixe menu including pumpkin soup, roast turkey with pineapple stuffing, yukon gold mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, fried brussels sprouts and pie bar.

OUTRIGGER Kauaʻi Beach Resort & Spa (Kauaʻi) — Serving an island-inspired buffet featuring roasted turkey with all the trimmings, fresh seafood and classic sides and desserts. $72 per adult, kids (ages 5-12) $36.

Mauna Lani, Auberge Collection (Hawaiʻi Island) — Thanksgiving dinner will be served at HāLani Restaurant, including garlic-herb heritage turkey, roasted king salmon and leg of lamb, Kona coffee-rubbed prime rib and sourdough stuffing. $145 per adult, kids $45.