Lei Day
The festivities have consistently grown each year and the state of Hawaii has changed the location of the event.
Lei day was first held in the Courts and Town Halls but has since been moved to Kapi'olani park.
In 1928 writer Don Blanding wrote an article in the local newspaper stating that there should be a holiday celebrated around the wearing and production of leis.
Schools also put on plays[2] and elect a Lei Day court of Kings and Queens to represent the different islands.
Hawaii (the big island) is red, Maui is pink, Oahu is yellow, Molokai is green, Lanai is orange, Kahoolawe is gray, Kauai is purple, and Niihau is white.
In the same order the flowers are lehua, lokelani, 'ilima, kukui, kauna'oa, hinahina, mokihana, and a pupu shell.
Throughout the history of the holiday, natives have struggled between preserving Hawaiian culture and integrating foreign traditions on the special day.
Although many different ethnic groups such as the Scottish, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean and Filipino, have settled on the Hawaiian Islands, the dominant integration is of American and European cultures.
In elementary school performances, a typical program will have the kids sing the "Star Spangled Banner", while dressed up in military uniforms.
Other performances may include something like a choreographed dances using a European maypole with streamers, having a Hawaiian theme or symbol behind it.
During the Second Hawaiian Renaissance in the 1970s, the assimilated American–Hawaiian style was frowned upon, but today it is often accepted as a part of the island’s history.
On the other hand, some have seen the assimilation as a loss of cultural identity and life for the Hawaiians, believing that the younger generations will completely lose their ethnic values.
Some have even described Lei Day as a tool to lure in people and get them hooked on the cultural life, leading them to permanently live in Hawaii and mesh themselves into the lifestyle.
[7] The importance of the lei to the Hawaiian culture is that it is meant to represent the unspoken expression of aloha.
“I can remember the joy of the annual Lei Day ceremony that permeated the campus of my elementary and middle schools while growing up on Oʻahu.
In Hawaii, it is a remarkable honor to be crowned “Lei Day Queen”; there are pageants, having similarities of the Miss America Beauty Pageant, that determine which young woman would be crowned Lei Day Queen.
However, the most important Hawaiian Lei Day ceremony takes place in Oahu at Kapiʻolani Park.
[13] Visitors are able to witness and partake in the numerous festivities that involve the beautiful Hawaiian leis.
For example, Islanders demonstrate that a lei that is received in a certain manner translates into a particular meaning: a greeting, a farewell, a marriage, a celebration, etc.
Much larger Hawaiian Lei Day festivals, of course, have a much wider venue of entertainers and activities that locals could choose from.
