Garlands of flowers
ev’rywhere,
All of the colors in the rainbow
Maidens with blossoms in their hair
Flowers that mean we shoud be happy,
Throwing aside a load of care,
Oh, May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i
Lei Day is happy day out there.”
~ Red Hawke, 1928
“According to Harry B. Soria, the celebration of May 1 as Lei Day was invented in 1927 by island artist, writer Donald Benson Blanding and Grace Tower Warren. Don Blanding is also credited with the invention of the custom of tossing your lei overboard when you sailed from Honolulu. If the lei came back to shore (and most did) it supposedly meant you would return.” Via Square 1
This is true, this is what is was like as a little kid in Hawaii, living in Salt Lake and attending Aliamanu Elementary School. We did our thing out in the field. The following is a nostalgic remembrance from the Hula Pages.
“For those blessed with a childhood in Hawai`i, there was no finer or more festive day of Hawaiian celebration. For this Aunty’s home village in Puna on the Big Island, The May Day Pageant, held at the school, was a far bigger event than the Christmas Program, which came in second, a distant second. May Day was not, and still is not, an official Hawaiian holiday, but villagers took off work anyway, whether they had kids in school or not. It was a day that drew us together like a powerful magnet. We came together as a community in celebration and remembrance of our cultural heritage and diversity.
This page was created for all who find their way here, but especially written for those who must be away from the `âina (literally, the land; figuratively, Hawai`i). As your own unique memories flow through your consciousness , may the vivid remembrance of the sights, sounds, fragrances and The Aloha Spirit of this special day permeate your every sense:
Remember the excitement and giddy anticipation leading up to May Day? The hours of dance practice, coaxing awkward hands and clumsy feet into graceful movements… preparing the costumes… gently picking flowers and stringing them into lei to express Aloha to loved ones, physically here and departed, kumu (teachers) and for the all-important May Day performance by each class…
Remember going to school decked out in lei, wearing brightly-colored mu`umu`u and Aloha shirts? Kids “oohing-and-ahhing” over each other’s delectable lei of candy, packs of chewing gum and cracked seed, individually wrapped in colored cellophane tied together with curly ribbon… lei being pulled apart and treats being exchanged and consumed, spinning each kid out to lofty sugar highs… presenting lei to kumu with sticky hands and even stickier kisses, and soon the top of kumu’s head was barely seen above the crush of lei…
Remember wriggling into dance costumes and the last-minute rehearsals and jitters? A bit of nail-biting, some hand-holding, and a whole lot of fidgeting… the entire community coming together for the May Day school pageant, lei contest, games and food… waving to all the smiling Aunties and Uncles, as you filed in with your class…
Remember that standing-room-only crowd, but there was no rudeness, no unruliness, no jostling, just smiles and kû ka paila (heaps of) Aloha Spirit… squeezing closer and tighter to fit one more Aunty’s `elemu (buttocks), or gladly giving up a coveted seat for a tûtû (grandparent) or mama with bêbê (baby)… EVERY person donning their best Hawaiian finery: mu`umu`u or Aloha shirt, lauhala hats (plaited hats of the hala leaves) encircled with lei hulu (feather lei), Hawaiian bracelets, flowers, be it a single pua melia over the ear or a hugely elaborate floral arrangement in the hair, and lei, lei, lei… “garlands of flowers everywhere…”
Remember the intermingled a`ala (fragrances) of pua melia (plumeria), ginger blossoms, gardenia, maile? Ambrosia for the ihu (nose).
Remember the strumming of `ukulele and guitars and the falsetto singing revving up the bustling crowd… then, the pû (conch shell) blower came running down the aisle, pausing to trumpet the festivities to come… an instant hush would come over the crowd… and necks would crane to get the first peek of the May Day mô`î wahine (queen) and mô`î kâne (king) and their court… first, the princesses, resplendent in holokû (formal Hawaiian dresses) and knee-length lei of the islands they represent and the princes in their malo (loincloths) and `ahu (capes), carrying kâhili (standards) marched in…
Remember feeling the lump-in-the-throat pride — and for our tûtû, the wistful nostalgia of times past– when the beautiful May Day mô`î wahine and the handsome mô`î kâne, who, representing the dignity, beauty and goodness of our people and culture, stepped forward? A thousand admiring glances, the population of this Aunty’s village in the 1950’s, kept pace with every regal step taken down the aisle and up to their flower-bedecked thrones…
And remember the hula? Ahh, the HULA…”
