I’ve been listening to the Book of Mormon soundtrack, and specifically the song “Hello”, pretty much every day for the past month or so.

It’s so peppy and witty and I find it a great salve after reading whatever horrible news has come out during the day.

Hello! 

This musical is not for everyone as the songs can be rather, umm, ‘salty’. But if you have a good sense of humour then you’ll probably like it too.

My favourite song is “Hello” which kicks off the musical. It’s one earworm I don’t mind having. 

As I was listening to this song last week, I got to thinking on how to say ‘hello’ in different languages. Okay, okay, what I really mean is I was procrastinating finishing an overdue article and was looking for a distraction. It happens!

Anyway, my google travelling led me to ‘kia ora’ which translated from Māori informally means ‘hello’. Māori is the traditional language spoken by the indigenous Māori peoples of New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand’s official languages along with English and New Zealand sign language(!). 

The literal translation of kia ora is ‘live life be well” which makes it even better! You can use it as a salutation, a farewell, or even as an expression of thanks. It’s multi-functional, like ‘aloha’ in Hawaiian. 

So taken with this phrase, I came up with this print that I am going to hang in the entrance of my home. I think it’s a unique and interesting way to welcome people into a space, and makes for a good starter or closing conversation piece.  

Kia ora!