HAWAIIAN GOODNESS
Even for the Mainlander
VOCAB: Halloween
Happy Halloween! Here, you'll find terms related to this holiday, but they can prove useful to remember for the rest of the year too.
Please note that Halloween is culturally an American/mainland holiday, as are many of its activities and associations/entities, so Hawaiian (among other languages, Western and non) will often simply translate literally or transcribe these words ("Hawaiianize").
Before jumping straight into the vocab list, let's first look at how to say the greeting "Happy Halloween!"
You have two options to choose from:
1. Hauʻoli Lā Heleuī!
If you pronounce Heleuī out loud, you'll see that this is a simple transcription of our word "Halloween." It's easy to say and makes sense to use for a holiday that is not Hawaiian in origin.
2. Hauʻoli Lā Hoʻomākaʻukaʻu!
Although a bit of a mouthful to say, the word Hoʻomākaʻukaʻu better encompasses the Halloween spirit. Here is a breakdown of the word:
Hoʻo = "to make [adj]" (common prefix)
Mākaʻu = Fear [noun], Afraid [adjective]
-kaʻu = Fear, hestitation (suffix; hence "mā-kaʻu")
Put these morphemes together, and you get: Ho'omāka'u = To make fear/afraid. In other words: to scare.
Therefore: Lā Hoʻomākaʻukaʻu = Day of Making fear / Scaring. Which is the point of Halloween!
Set #1
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Pumpkin = Palaʻai
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Jack-o-lantern = Poʻokiʻi palaʻai
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To carve (pumpkins) = Kālai (palaʻai), sometimes Kālai pū
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Candy = Kanakē
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"Trick-or-treat" = "Kiliki o lapu" (lit. ghost mist)
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To go "trick-or-treating" = Hele i ka hana "kiliki o lapu"
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To give out candy = Hāʻawi kanakē aku
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Costume [noun]; To put on a costume [verb] = ʻAʻahu
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Monster = Pilikua nui or Tutua:
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ghost = Lapu
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mummy = iʻaloa
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witch = hese / kapua
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vampire = omo koko ("blood sucker")
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devil = Kiapolō or kepolō/kepalō (or the antiquated "diabolo")
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To scare/frighten; Scary = Hoʻomākaʻu
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To scare/startle/surprise = hoʻopūʻiwa
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Terrible, dreadful = Weliweli
Aia ʻo Spongebob ma loko o ka palaʻai.
Kālai ʻo ia i ka palaʻai.
Nānā ʻo ia i ka poʻokiʻi palaʻai.
Hāʻawi kanakē aku ʻo Spongebob.
Haʻi aku nā keiki: "kiliki o lapu!"
He palaʻai, he iʻaloa, a he hese nā ʻaʻahu
o nā keiki. He lapu ka ʻaʻahu o Spongebob.
ʻAʻole hoʻomākaʻu ʻo Spongebob iā Patrick, akā hoʻomākaʻu ʻo Patrick iā ia!
Set #2
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Haunted house (attraction for scaring people) = Hale hoʻomākaʻukaʻu
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Cemetery/graveyard = (Pā) ilina
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Grave (resting place + headstone) = Hē
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Grave (hole), sepulchre = Lua kupapaʻu
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Coffin = Pahu (kupapaʻu)
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Corpse = Kupapaʻu
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Dead = Make
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Skull = iwi poʻo
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Skeleton = iwi kanaka
He "lapu" ʻo Squidward.
"Ok, e komo mai i loko o ka pahu kupapaʻu!"
He pā ilina kēia.
Hele ʻo Squidward i ka hē.
Aia ʻo Hans Moleman i ka pahu ma luna o ka lua kupapaʻu. ʻAʻole make ʻo ia.
Nui nā iwi kanaka ma ka pā ilina.
Makemake ka iwi poʻo i ka pāpale o Mr. Krabs.
Set #3
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Bat (Lasiurus cinereus - Hawaiian bat) = ʻōpeʻapeʻa
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Black = ʻeleʻele
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Orange = ʻalani
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Blood = koko
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Spider = Lanalana or Nananana
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Web = ʻupena
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To turn into, transform = Loli i ke ʻano hou
"Hauʻoli nā ʻōpeʻapeʻa, ʻo ka Lā Hoʻomākaʻukaʻu ka lānui punahele o lākou!"
ʻEleʻele a ʻalani nā mea apau i ka pāʻina Heleuī.
Noho ʻo Creed ma mua o ka lanalana a me ka ʻupena.
Aia he koko ma luna o kona pālule.
" ʻO ka Lā Heluī kēia. Ūlialia pōmaikaʻi ia."
Loli ʻo Michael Jackson i ke ʻano holoholona!
Prompt ~
1. In the Forum, tell us how you celebrate Halloween! What kind of decorations do you use? What movies do you watch? What foods do you eat? Do you go trick-or-treating, or do you take your kids? Who dresses up?
2. Pick a Halloween episode of a TV show or a scary movie that you like and describe it using as much of the above vocab as you can.