This Thursday, May 1, 2025, marks the 97th annual May Day celebration in Hawaii. Every year on the first of May, Hawaii locals and visitors alike don colorful lei and share in the spirit of aloha with hula performances, lei-making demonstrations, lei contests, entertainment and more.
The lei is widely recognized as a symbol of aloha or love. In traditional lei-making, great care is taken to gather and prepare materials, and fashion them into a lei. As this is done, the mana, or spirit, of the creator of the lei is woven into it. When you give someone a lei, it's like you're giving a part of you. Likewise, when you receive a lei, it's like you're receiving a part of its creator.
2025 May Day Events on Oahu
The City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation’s Annual Lei Day Celebration is held at Kapiolani Park from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 1 of each year, rain or shine, any day of the week. The all-day event features a variety of island musical and hula performances, Hawaiian cultural protocol, a world-renowned Lei Contest, lei-making workshops, artisans and merchants—all in a family-friendly setting.
Before the celebration, a Lei Court is selected to preside over the festivities and serve as cultural ambassadors of aloha. Following the celebration, on May 2, fresh flower lei from the Lei Contest are taken to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum, and Kawaiāha‘o Church to be placed on the graves and tombs of Hawaii’s ali‘i or royalty.
The Lei Court ‘Ohana reign over the festivities, which begin with a performance from the fabled Royal Hawaiian Band, the only municipal band in the country. Then the court enters the parks bandstand, greeted with hula and giving of ho‘okupu or gifts, as the Lei Court Ceremony commences. Once the ceremony is complete, the court inspects and officially opens the Lei Contest for public viewing. The coveted Lei Contest Exhibit showcases some of the world’s most exquisite handcrafted lei in a variety of materials, colors and styles. Public viewing of these lei lasts throughout the rest of the celebration.
This year's theme is: Hoʻokahi ka ʻilau like ʻana, which translates means "wield the paddles together," or work together. The theme material is hau or Hibiscus tiliaceus, a yellow hibiscus with a maroon center, also known as the Sea Hibiscus.
In addition to the City and County of Honolulu's May Day festivities, most elementary schools across Hawaii celebrate the holiday with traditional and modern hula performances and a May Day court, in which each grade level represents a different Hawaiian Island by wearing that island's signature color and flower.
History of May Day in Hawaii
Photo courtesy of History Education Hawaii News.
In 1927, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin published an article written by Don Blanding, a poet from Oklahoma, which suggested creating a new holiday centered around the Hawaiian custom of wearing and making lei. In his book Hula Moons, Blanding says:
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...Hawaii 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 discussed the idea with “Kama'aina Kolumn” columnist Grace Warren. Enthusiastically embracing the idea, Warren suggested the name "May Day" and coined the phrase "May Day is Lei Day." Leonard “Red” and Ruth Hawk, inspired by the new holiday, composed "May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii" in 1928 for the first Lei Day festival. This song resonates throughout every Lei Day celebration in the State of Hawaii, with its memorable lyrics:
May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii / Garlands of flowers everywhere / All of the colors in the rainbow / Maidens with blossoms in their hair / Flowers that mean we should be happy / Throwing aside a load of care / Oh, May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii / May Day is happy days out there
May Day, 1953. Photo courtesy of Kohala Public Library Archives.
Which Flowers Represent the Hawaiian Islands?
A special flower represents each of the Hawaiian Islands.
- Maui - Lokelani, a pink Damask rose brought to Hawaii in the early 1800s.
- Oahu - Pua 'ilima, a type of yellow hibiscus.
- Molokai - Kukui, which is green.
- Lanai - Kaunaoa, which is orange.
- Kahoolawe - Hinahina, a silvery beach plant endemic to Hawaii.
- Kauai - Mokihana, a green berry.
- Niihau - Pupu, not a flower but "tiny seashells."
Which Lei Represents Each Hawaiian Island?
- Maui - Lokelani lei, a sweetly scented and fragile pink flower arrangement.
- Oahu - A yellow, fragile lei made from the ilima flower, often called the “royal lei,” because in ancient Hawaiian times it was worn by high chieftains.
- Molokai - Kukui lei, made mostly with silvery green leaves.
- Lanai - Kaunaoa lei, made of thin, light orange strands of vine, gathered in groups, twisted together and then shaped.
- Kahoolawe - Hinahina lei, made of hinahina stems and flowers, twisted together and then shaped.
- Kauai - A fragrant lei made of purple berries found only on Kauai.
- Niihau - White pupu shell lei, made by piercing the shells with small holes and stinging together with vine.
Happy May Day from Locations!
