May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii

Photos of the mixed level hula performing "Hawaiian Lullaby"
Photo of level 2/3 performing Yellow Ginger Lei

Today was my school's annual May Day program. The theme was flowers and I wrote a script for all the children. They were wonderful and memorized the entire performance! We titled the program "May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii".

Each Hawaiian Island is represented by a different flower. I learned many interesting things while working on the script. Here is a quick break down for you readers!

The Island of Nii'hau's lei are the white PuPu shells. They were Queen Emma's favorite lei.

Kaua'i's color is purple and their lei are the Mokihana berry. This berry can only be found on the island of Kaua'i.

Oahu is Yellow and their lei is the Ilima flower. It takes hundreds of Ilima flowers to make a single strand of this lei.

Moloka'i is green. The lei are the kukui nut, leaf, and flower.

Lana'i is orange and their lei are the Kauna'oa vine.

Kaho'olawe's color is silvery gray. Their flower is the Hinahina plant. This little plant can be found amongst the rocks down by the shoreline. (the bushes growing on the beach!)

Maui is pink and their lei is the Lokelani flower. This is the only flower not indigenous to Hawai'i.

And finally the Big Island is red and our flower is the Ohia Lehua flower. The ohia lehua provides rare color on a black lava field. They are the most abundant native trees in Hawaii and are among the first new life in new lava flows!

The videos I've posted include our school chant, Level 1 performing Pupu Hinu Hinu, Level 2/3 performing Yellow Ginger Lei, and Level 4 performing Pua Mana. I had to sing extra loud since I was both directing and video taping at the same time. As you can hear, I had to learn the Hawaiian words for the songs. I'm not just mouthing "watermelon watermelon watermelon"!