PHOTOS: Celebrating Lei Day in Hawai‘i, the early years

Celebrate Lei Day today by giving and wearing lei.

The history of Lei Day on May Day in Hawai‘i is nearly a century old, when the first lei contest was held on May 1, 1928, in the lobby of Bank of Hawai‘i in Honolulu, according to the state Department of Accounting General Services.

May Day became closely tied to Lei Day in Hawaiʻi in 1928, when artist and poet Don Blanding (an Oklahoma native living in Hawaiʻi who wrote for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin) suggested creating a holiday to celebrate the tradition of making, giving, and wearing lei, according to the Bank of Hawai‘i website.

“He shared the idea with Star-Bulletin society editor Grace Tower Warren, who immediately embraced it,” the bank website wrote. “Warren proposed pairing the new holiday with May Day, already associated with flowers (and also her birthday), and she coined the now-familiar phrase: ‘May Day is Lei Day in Hawaiʻi.'”

The Lei Day tradition has continued throughout the years, bringing together traditional Hawaiian symbolism and contemporary pageantry with a May Day court in public schools where students honor each island and their colors by wearing costumes and lei to represent them.

Events continue in communities throughout the state, including the Hilo Lei Day Festival today at Kalākaua Park, where there will be hula performances and lei-making demonstrations. Click here for more Lei Day events.