“May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii
May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.
Garlands of flowers everywhere.
All of the colors of the rainbow…”
So begins the song we always sang at Paauilo Elementary School when we celebrated May Day is Lei Day every May 1st. We’d wear our aloha shirts and mu’u and wear leis made out of flowers from our yard. Sometimes we’d make a lei for our teacher.
It was an exciting day because each of the classes had prepared a hula for the festivities. There was also a regal Hawaiian court with a King and Queen chosen from the 9th grade class and Princesses adorned with the appropriate colors and flower of each island.
I came across a beautiful mele (song) called Na Lei o Hawaii / The Wreaths of Hawaii – written by Reverend Samuel Kapu of Maui in 1900 that reminded me of those days. The melody was the song that our royal court processed to across the lawn to their chairs from which they watched the program. And this kind of pageantry began soon after Reverend Kapu wrote the song.
This mele was dedicated to the Goddess Hi’iakaikapoliopele, the baby sister of Pele, our Fire Goddess. Hi'iaka made an epic journey that took her across Na Kai Ewalu / the eight seas/channels of Hawaii. Hi’iaka is our inspiration in Hula. We dance many hula in her honor.
To get a sense of the richness of the Hawaiian culture, look at the English lyrics of Na Lei O Hawaii. It describes each island with an identifying flower, color, chief, or a famed seascape or landscape. Here are the Hawaiian lyrics: https://www.huapala.org/NA/Na_Lei_Hawaii_King.html
Na Lei o Hawaii
Beautiful Hawaii, island of Keawe
Proud of its lei of lehua (red)
And the maile of Panaewa
Grand is Maui with Haleakala
The sacred rose (pink)
Is for you alone
Oahu wears the ‘ilima lei with pride and grace (yellow)
As beautiful as the manu ‘o’o
The yellow birds of the mountains
Kaua’i’s lei is the Mokihana (purple)
Laua’e of Makana
The admiration of my heart
Famous is Moloka’i preserved by the kukui (green)
Of Lanikaula
And the waterfall of Moa’ula
Ni’ihau, Kaho’olawe and Lana’i (white, gray, orange)
Cherish their leis of pupu shells
The hinahina and kauna’oa
Tell the refrain of
The leis of Hawai’i
The leis that honor Hawai’i
Happy May Day and Asian Pacific Islander Desi* Month!
Malama pono (take good care of body, mind, heart),
Kumu/Roshi June Kaililani Tanoue
* Asian Pacific Islander Desi (APIDA) is a pan-ethnic classification that intentionally includes South Asians (Desi) as part of the community.