Source: The Honolulu Advertiser

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Dec/25/ln/ln01a.html

On December 30, 2003 The Honolulu Advertiser reported that "many families in Hawai'i are mixing traditions this Christmas Day. Interfaith marriage is rising across the United States, and Americans nationwide are celebrating increasingly diverse holidays. Although exact data is hard to come by because the U.S. Census is forbidden to ask questions about religion, a 2001 American Religious Identification Survey found 22 percent of 50,281 households polled reported being a religiously diverse union. The survey did not include Hawai'i in its sampling because of the expense involved, but University of Hawai'i professor Dean Alegado, chair of the ethnic studies department at the Manoa campus, said he suspects the proportions are higher in Hawai'i, 'given that the rate of interethnic and interracial mixed marriages is quite high.'" A number of Buddhist temples on the islands have Christmas trees this year, and locals argue Christmas is an easy tradition for Japanese Buddhists to adopt, even if they don't worship Jesus.