Let me tell you something that most visitors to Hawaii never learn.
May 1st in Hawaii is not just May Day. It has not been for nearly a century. On these islands, the first day of May belongs entirely to the lei — to the flowers, the stories, and the tradition that has tied Hawaiian culture together longer than anyone can remember.
May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. And the story behind that phrase is worth knowing before you ever set foot on these islands.
The Ancient Roots of the Hawaiian Lei
Before we get to Lei Day itself, we need to talk about where it all began.
The tradition of wearing and giving lei arrived in Hawaiʻi with the early Polynesian voyagers who settled the islands more than 1,000 years ago. These skilled navigators brought with them customs, chants, religious practices — and a reverence for nature that included the creation of garlands from native flora. In ancient Hawaii, leis were worn as symbols of distinguishment or rank. A high-ranking aliʻi, or chief, may have been recognized by his particular type, pattern, or complexity of lei. Leis might also symbolize the occurrence of an important event, given during a birth, death, peace settlement, or war victory.
Furthermore, feathered lei, or lei hulu, were generally for members of the ruling class, while a lei niho palaoa — a whale-tooth pendant lei — was a symbol of royalty. Not everyone wore the same lei. The flowers and materials you wore told the world exactly who you were and why you were there.
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 is like you are giving a part of you. Likewise, when you receive a lei, it is like you are receiving a part of its creator.
That understanding changes everything about how you receive one.
How Lei Day Was Born
Here is something that surprises most people about Lei Day. It was not created by a Native Hawaiian.
Don Blanding, originally from Oklahoma, came to Hawaiʻi in 1915 after seeing a play in Kansas City called “The Bird of Paradise” that depicted a romantic and completely fictional Hawaiʻi. He fell in love with the real thing instead.
Along in the latter part of 1927, Blanding had an idea. He told the editors of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the paper on which he worked. They agreed it was a good idea and presented it to the public. 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.
Together with fellow writer Grace Tower Warren, Blanding brought the idea to life. Warren suggested the celebration and coined the phrase “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.” Lei Day received official recognition in 1929 by Governor Wallace R. Farrington, who declared May 1 of each year as “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaiʻi.”
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 Oʻahu.”
What started as a newspaper column became a statewide holiday that has now run for nearly 100 years.
What Lei Day Looks Like Today
Today, Lei Day is celebrated on May 1 across the Hawaiian Islands with lei-making demonstrations, hula performances, and more. The City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation’s Annual Lei Day Celebration is held at Kapiʻolani Park from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 1 of each year, rain or shine.
Lei Day is a celebration of Hawaiian culture and the aloha spirit. Schools put on plays and elect a Lei Day court of kings and queens to represent the different islands. Each island has its own symbol composed of a color and a flower.
Additionally, at the 81st Annual Mayor’s Lei Day Celebration at Kapiʻolani Park in 2008, Honolulu set the record for the World’s Longest Lei. The lei measured 5,336 feet in length — more than a mile.
That record tells you something about how seriously Hawaii takes this day.
Hawaiian Flowers and Lei: Each Island’s Symbol
This is where Hawaiian flowers and lei become deeply personal. Every island in the Hawaiian chain carries its own official flower, color, and lei. Together they form a living map of the islands — each one rooted in the landscape, history, and spirit of its home.
Hawaiʻi — The Big Island: Lehua Blossom (Red)
The island of Hawaii, more commonly known as the Big Island, has the red blossom of the Ohia tree, called the lehua blossom, for its flower. The lehua is one of the most sacred flowers in all of Hawaiian culture. According to Hawaiian legend, the ʻōhiʻa and lehua were two lovers transformed by the volcano goddess Pele — ʻōhiʻa into a tree and lehua into its blossom. Picking a lehua flower, the legend says, will bring rain — the tears of the two lovers separated.
The ʻōhiʻa lehua tree is also among the first plants to grow on new lava fields, making it a symbol of resilience, strength, and new life rising from destruction.
Maui: Lokelani Rose (Pink)
Maui became the pink island because the pink Damask rose can be found just about everywhere. Brought over from Asia in the 1800s, the Maui rose or lokelani became the official flower in 1923.
Remarkably, the Lokelani Rose is the only post-European contact plant among all the island flowers. It is the only nonnative species selected. The name lokelani translates to “small rose of heaven” — a poetic fit for an island known for its dramatic valleys, lush rainforests, and the sacred slopes of Haleakalā.
Oʻahu: ʻIlima (Yellow/Gold)
Oahu’s color is the bold golden yellow puailima or ilima for short. The ilima is a type of yellow hibiscus known as the “royal lei” worn in the past by high chieftains.
The ʻilima lei is one of the most labor-intensive in all of Hawaii. The ilima is a thin orange blossom requiring the stringing of hundreds of blossoms. It takes between 500 and 1,000 individual flowers to make a single lei. Consequently, wearing one was historically a marker of extraordinary status and devotion — the time and care required made it one of the most prized of all Hawaiian flowers and lei.
Kauaʻi: Mokihana (Purple)
Kauai is the color purple. The mokihana berry are light purple flowers found on the fragrantly scented Mokihana tree. The anise-scented berries were used by native Hawaiians as perfumes and room fresheners and are only found on Kauai.
The mokihana is endemic to Kauai — meaning it grows nowhere else on earth. Moreover, because the berries can cause skin irritation for some people, lei mokihana are typically worn over clothing rather than directly on the skin. That detail alone makes it one of the most distinctive and unusual of all the island lei.
Molokaʻi: Kukui (Green)
Molokai’s signature lei is made from kukui nuts. The official state tree of Hawaii is the kukui nut tree, known elsewhere as the candlenut tree. Historians consider the kukui nut tree in Hawaii as one of a number of canoe plants — because the Polynesians brought such seeds with them in canoes when they first came to Hawaii.
Beyond its role as Molokai’s lei, the nut was particularly useful. Hawaiians used the oil from the nuts to coat fisherman’s nets or to illuminate candle-pods. The outer shell of the rich-colored nuts became a natural dye for tattoos. Additionally, Hawaiians utilized kukui nut oil as topical dressing for massaging sore muscles, soothing burns, chapped skin, and wounds.
Few Hawaiian flowers and lei carry the practical history that the kukui does.
Lānaʻi: Kaunaʻoa (Orange)
Lanai sits off the west coast of Maui and its official color is orange. The island flower is the kaunaoa, or native dodder. The distinctive orange and green plant is found along island beaches.
The kaunaoa is a parasitic vine — it wraps itself around other plants to survive. Nevertheless, Hawaiians saw beauty and identity in exactly this quality, making it Lānaʻi’s symbol. The lei woven from kaunaoa is delicate, unusual, and unmistakably tied to the windswept beaches of this quiet island.
Kahoʻolawe: Hinahina (Gray/Silver)
Kahoolawe has the color gray of the hinahina, otherwise known as the native beach heliotrope. Located off the southwest of Maui, this island is uninhabited and visitors are not allowed. The flowers are fragrant and white in small trumpet shapes.
Kahoʻolawe carries a heavy history. Used as a military bombing range by the US Navy for decades, the island was returned to the state of Hawaii in 1994. Today, its hinahina blooms quietly on a landscape that Hawaiians are actively working to restore. The silver-gray flower has become a symbol not just of the island but of perseverance and healing.
Niʻihau: Pūpū Shell Lei (White)
Niihau sits off Kauai’s western coast and is a privately owned island that claims the color white. Visitors rarely make it onto Niihau but the island is well-known for shell leis as prized souvenirs. The shells used to make these leis are called pupu.
Niʻihau is the only island without a plant as its symbol. Instead, rare shell leis like the Niihau shell lei are highly sought by collectors and lei enthusiasts and can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Some of the most prized pūpū shell lei take months to complete and represent the pinnacle of Hawaiian lei craftsmanship.
The Rules of the Lei
Before you visit Hawaii, there are a few things worth knowing about how to properly receive and wear a lei.
Traditionalists give a lei by bowing slightly and raising it above the heart, allowing the recipient to take it, as raising the hands above another’s head or touching the face is considered disrespectful.
Furthermore, because lei are considered a symbol of affection and aloha, you should never refuse a lei. If you must remove lei for whatever reason, do so discreetly.
Additionally, lei should never be thrown away casually or tossed into the trash. Traditionally they should be returned to the place they were gathered, or if that is not possible, they should be returned to the earth by hanging in a tree, burying, or burning. A lei represents love, and to throw one away represents throwing away the love of the giver.
That last point says everything about what a lei really is.
Celebrate Lei Day at the Mauka Makeke
This year, Mauka Warriors Luau is bringing Lei Day to life in a way Oʻahu has never seen it before.
On Saturday May 2nd, 2026, we are hosting the Mauka Makeke — a Lei Day celebration open to the entire community. Come shop a curated marketplace of local small businesses, feel the aloha spirit in every booth, and spend your Lei Day surrounded by the people and products that make these islands worth celebrating.
Additionally, if you have been working on your lei making skills, this is your moment. Bring a lei you made yourself and enter our Lei Day lei making contest. Whether you are a seasoned maker or a first-timer who gave it their best shot, we want to see what you created and celebrate the tradition together.
This event is a reflection of everything Lei Day was always meant to be. Its sole purpose is to engage in random acts of kindness and sharing, and to celebrate the Aloha spirit — that intangible but palpable essence best exemplified by the hospitality and inclusiveness of the Native Hawaiian people.
Furthermore, shopping local is its own form of aloha. Every dollar spent with a small business on Oʻahu keeps a family’s craft alive and puts resources back into the community that has shared its culture with the world for centuries.
Come celebrate Lei Day the right way. Bring your lei, bring your family, and bring your aloha.
Mauka Makeke — Saturday May 2nd, 2026 Mauka Warriors Luau, Kapolei, Oʻahu Details and updates at MaukaWarriorsLuau.com
Make Your Own Lei at Mauka Warriors Luau
Understanding Hawaiian flowers and lei is one thing. Making one with your own hands is something else entirely.
At Mauka Warriors Luau on Oʻahu, lei making is one of the interactive cultural activities available before the show begins. Guided by people who carry this tradition personally, you will sit down, choose your materials, and weave your own lei the way Hawaiians have done for over a thousand years.
When you place that lei around someone’s shoulders at the end of the evening, you will understand — in a way no blog can fully teach you — exactly what it means to give a part of yourself to someone else.
That is the spirit of Lei Day. That is the spirit of aloha. And on Oʻahu, that spirit is alive every single night at Mauka Warriors Luau.
