I am not saying this as a fact but something to ponder on: The quoted excerpt from your article above may only be partially true in the context of Hawaii culture. It is true that setting off firecrackers is a Chinese tradition. However, it may be the Filipinos who brought it to Hawaii. In the Philippines, it became a tradition during the New Year after Chinese refugees brought it with them in the 1950’s. It could be that setting off firecrackers to celebrate the new year was brought by Filipinos to Hawaii instead. There are 4.7% Hawaiians with Chinese ancestry, compared to 14.1% Filipinos.

@Mirabelle: Merci for your read and commenting!

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I love the smell of plumeria. Mmh!!! What a beautiful tradition.

Hawaii is very interbred; a bit of a chop suey culture. But right- further, it’s interesting to see where certain customs or foods were born or how it is the influence of immigration. This year, I just discovered the Chinese fortune cookie is really from the Japanese & that Italian spagetti is actually Chinese. Fun trivia like that… And thanks for asking- will be blogging about the Korean venture soon. It’s coming up quickly and i’m not sure if i’m prepared! Fingers crossed.