By Leilehua Yuen

This year’s Hilo Lei Day Festival will be held on May 1, at Kalākaua Park, the original town square of Hilo, and the site of Hilo’s Lei Day celebrations in the 1920s. May 1, celebrated around the world as a workers’ holiday and festival of spring, is known in the Hawaiian Islands as Lei Day.

Don Blanding, fondly known as the “Poet Laureate of Hawai‘i,” explained the origin of the Hawaiian holiday in his book, Hula Moons:

Along in the latter part of 1927 I had an idea; not that that gave me a headache, but it seemed such a good one that I had to tell someone about it, so I told the editors of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the paper on which I worked. They agreed that it was a good idea and that we ought to present it to the public, which we proceeded to do. It took hold at once and resulted in something decidedly beautiful…The custom of weaving and wearing flower leis originated with the Hawaiians so long ago that they have no record of its beginning…When tourists discovered Hawaii, they loved the charming gesture and they spread the word of it until the lei became known around the world…Hawai‘i observed all of the mainland holidays as well as those of a number of the immigrant nationalities in the Islands. But there was no day that was peculiarly and completely Hawaii’s own; that is none that included all of the polyglot population there.

So, the bright idea that I presented was, “Why not have a Lei Day?” Let everyone wear a lei and give a lei. Let it be a day of general rejoicing over the fact that one lived in a Paradise. Let it be a day for remembering old friends, renewing neglected contacts, with the slogan “Aloha,” allowing that flexible word to mean friendliness on that day.

Blanding proposed the holiday in his column in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on February 13, 1928. Two days later the paper printed a letter from Blanding’s co-worker, columnist Grace Tower Warren, who suggested May 1 for May Day celebrations as ideal for the holiday, and crafted the slogan, “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.”

Princess Helen Kawananākoa told Blanding, “Indeed, I do approve of the idea. I think it is a beautiful thought and you may count on me for anything you want to help it along. And I know that you will have the loyal support of all the Hawaiians on O‘ahu. They have been discussing it among themselves and are unanimously in favor of it…The nicest part of Lei Day is that it brings kama‘āina (local residents) together again. With so many malihini (visitors) and malihini customs in Honolulu, the old-timers have rather withdrawn from public events. But Lei Day is so much in the old-time manner that they are planning to revive many ‘good old days’ courtesies.”

In 1929, Lei Day received official recognition, and continues to be marked by celebrations in Hawai‘i and, now, around the world.

In 2001, Hawai‘i Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka, during a May 1 address said, “May Day is Lei Day in Hawai‘i.” Lei Day is a nonpolitical and nonpartisan celebration. Indeed, its sole purpose is to engage in random acts of kindness and sharing, and to celebrate the Aloha spirit, that intangible, but palpable, essence which is best exemplified by the hospitality and inclusiveness exhibited by the Native Hawaiians—Hawaiiʻs indigenous peoples—to all people of goodwill.”

As Princess Kawananākoa explained to Blanding those many years ago, a lei is more than a garland of flowers hastily bought and carelessly given. She said that it should be made by the giver with much thought and consideration of color combination, fragrance, and design.

Lei also are more than flowers sewn on a strand. There are lei of seeds, shells, feathers, and even words. A special song composed for a loved one can be a lei. All of them are a tangible expression of aloha, given to show love, joy, or sympathy, and as greetings and farewells.

Historian and writer Emma Ahuena Taylor wrote in 1928, “The lei meant a great deal in old Hawaii. The favorite child in the home was called a wreath—a lei. Konia, the mother of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, when she spoke of Lili‘uokalani, called her the ‘lei a‘i,ʻ or ‘the wreath of her neck.ʻ As to Princess Pauahi, her daughter, she spoke of her as her ‘lei po‘o,ʻ or ‘the wreath of her head.ʻ This has been told me by my mother.”

A Traditional Lei Chant

Ke lei maila o Ka‘ula o ke kai

Ka mālamalama o Ni‘ihau ua mālie

A mālie pā ka Inuwai

Ke inu maila nā hala o Haue i kekai

No Naue kahala, no Punaka wahine

No ka lua nō I Kīlauea

Ua ‘ikea

A lei of sea foam is there at Ka‘ula

Ni‘ihau shines in the calm

Parched by the Inuwai wind

There drink the pandanus of Naue from the sea

From Naue the pandanus, from Puna the woman

From the pit indeed of the Volcano

Let it be known

For millennia, Hawaiian poetry has celebrated the lei. From ancient chants to modern songs, from poetic metaphors to literal descriptions, the lei has been a popular subject.

Formerly, while the lei was always given with great affection and respect, it might not always be placed on the recipient by the giver. To “nā po‘e kahiko”, the people of olden times, the head was sacred. People did not put their hands or arms above anotherʻs head. A lei was carefully wrapped in a special container, often made of fresh tī leaves, and handed to the recipient. If the lei was for a very high ranking ali‘i, then the lei would be handed to a retainer to give the ali‘i.

Emily Ahuena Taylor wrote, “Leis, I have always known, were, and are, an expression of love. Leis were the garments of Hiku, the god of love. When one arrives at a Hawaiian home, the dwellers therein always hasten to deck him with leis, their expression of welcome and love. At departure, that same expression—of love—and farewell, is used in leis to decorate the departing one.

“At a feast, it is not complete unless every guest is bedecked with a lei. In olden times when people were traveling and they came to a sacred or historic place where there might be a stone that was venerated, the visitors placed wreaths of greenery upon it…

“It seems to me that anything that tends to perpetuate the beautiful custom of the lei is worthwhile. What is more beautiful and fragrant than the green maile of different varieties, as one of the standard leis of Hawai‘i. ‘Lei Dayʻ and ‘May Dayʻ almost seem synonymous.”

Among the many supporters of Lei Day were tourism officials and business people. Along with Blanding, they saw huge commercial potential in the holiday. Warren and others, who saw themselves as North American expatriates living in the islands, thought of the new holiday as a way to enjoy their own traditions with a tropical flavor.

To Hawaiians, it was a way to regain and promote their mother culture, which they saw washing out to sea in the tsunami of modernization and Americanization.

Kama‘āina Gerrit Wilder probably put the feeling of ‘locals’ most succinctly when he wrote in April of 1928, “I heartily kōkua for ‘More Hawai‘i in Hawai‘i.’” ❖

The Hilo Lei Day Festival is a celebration of the traditional lei of Hawai‘i Nei, and our multi-cultural heritage. The festival is held every year on May 1. It opens at 9am with ho‘okupu honoring Hi‘iakaikapua‘ena‘ena, goddess of lei making. Lei making demonstrations are continuous throughout the event. Come and learn different types of lei! Music and hula celebrating the lei will be performed, and all are encouraged to join in the group hula held throughout the day.

Story sponsored by the Hilo Lei Day Festival. See contacts below for more information and to participate:

Email: info@LeiDay.org

Website: LeiDay.org

Phone: 808.895.0850

Facebook: HiloLeiDayFestival

Twitter: LeiDayInHilo