Ho-san-nah, Yes! Ho-o-sa-a-a-a-nah!

As little girls, JoAnne and I found, in our Easter baskets, metal, crank-style music box figures. Hers was Peter Cottontail, and it played “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” when cranked. Mine was a purple egg, decorated with birds and flowers. When cranked, it played “London Bridge Is Falling Down.” Really. It did. I don’t know why. I don’t imagine the song has a history of being associated with Easter. I don’t know that it’s associated with eggs or flowers or birds. But that’s what it played. I’ll come back to that.

The Creative Playthings music box

When Kevin was a toddler, there was a similar crank-style music box toy available, made by Creative Playthings. You turned the crank and it played something from Swan Lake. The huge difference was that the music apparatus, instead of being hidden inside the toy, was covered by a piece of clear acrylic so you could see the process by which the music was actually made.

I had other toys that made music that way, and I had always wanted to see how they worked. Once, I had a soft-bodied doll with a wind-up key on her back. When you wound her up, she played a lullaby, for a few minutes. I discovered, below the wind-up key, a zipper toggle, buried in her fur. If you opened the zipper, there was a sort of pocket there, and if you worked hard enough, you could pry the music apparatus out and, ta-dah, you could watch the music being made! Mother didn’t like me to open her up and perform that sort of surgery. I never, ever understood why anyone wouldn’t want to watch as well as hear. I still don’t. Which is why I bought that thing for Kevin. Kevin used it, but he was most likely never as intrigued with it as I was, because he always had that knowledge which was so mysterious to me.

My purple egg, no longer musical, just pretty

Anyway, back to my purple egg. It was metal and crimped tightly together at the sides, (no getting inside that music machine), and I had to be satisfied with just cranking it and listening to the music. But at some point in my childhood I discovered what it would do that the wind-up doll’s system would never do. The crank-style music boxes could be played backwards.

JoAnne’s Peter Cottontail played a rather disjointed, odd tune when it was cranked backwards. But “London Bridge” played backwards is an interesting, happy little tune. Mother kept the egg, and when my own sons were kids, I played it for them, backwards, and we all learned the melody. I still know it and I think maybe they do, too.

I still have the old purple Easter egg, and I get it out each year. Sadly, it has lost all its tines, or maybe the cranking part doesn’t turn inside any more. It doesn’t make any music at all now, frontwards or backwards. But I keep it for the happy memory, and I sing its little song. Call me up this weekend, and I’ll sing it for you, too!

Den da blind guys an da guys dat no can walk, wen go by Jesus inside da temple yard, an he wen make um come good. But da main priest guys an da teachas who teach Godʼs Rules wen see all da awesome stuff Jesus wen do. An dey see all da kids yelling inside da temple yard. Da kids say,
“Eh! Garans God goin take us outa all da bad kine stuff we stay in!
    Eh! Garans da guy from King David ohana!”

So da priest guys an da teacha guys wen come huhu. Dey aks Jesus, “Eh, you hear wat dese kids saying? Dass not good!” But Jesus tell um, “Yeah, I hear um. Wassa matta? You guys neva read wat da Bible say?
‘Da babies an da small kids,
    You let dem tell all da kine good stuff bout you.’ ”
Matthew 21:14-16 Hawai’i Pidgen Version

I had a hard time choosing which translation to use this week. Every one I read had certain phrases and words that I particularly liked. But this is my favorite, because it is a language of common folk, as we all are, the folks that Jesus came to save. I do think that it may need a little translation.

The word “wen,” is used in Hawai’i Pidgen to mean past tense. So, “the priests and teachers saw all the awesome things Jesus did.”
“Ohana” is a Hawaiian word that means family.
“Garans” is a Pidgen word that means “guarantee.” So, “It’s a guarantee that that guy is from King David’s family.”
“Huhu” is a Hawai’ian word that means “angry, irritated.” So, “The priests and teachers became angry.”
“Da kine” is a Pidgen phrase that roughly means “that kind of,” so, “The babies and the small kids, You let them tell all kinds of good things about you.”

It’s a little different from how the NIV puts it:

‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise.’

The rest of it, I think you’ll easily understand, especially if you read it out loud.

Sunday morning, all my small kids and I will be singing “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, We love Jesus.” Hope you’re planning to have da kine Hosanna Sunday yourself.