PO‘IPU — May Day was greeted with a variety of hula, protocol and honor as the associates of the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club celebrated Lei Day on Friday. The sound of the conch shell broke through the quiet morning air
PO‘IPU — May Day was greeted with a variety of hula, protocol and honor as the associates of the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club celebrated Lei Day on Friday.
The sound of the conch shell broke through the quiet morning air as guests at the Po‘ipu resort converged on the lawn area fronting the hotel’s lobby.
“This is all the associates’ work,” said Steve Yannarell, the Waiohai general manager. “They put it together as a celebration of culture and tradition and we welcome you to see what they do here.”
But it was more than your everyday routine as Waiohai concierge Troy Allen Lazaro assembled the talents of the resort’s associates to offer a full gamut of May Day celebration, including a Royal Court featuring the husband-and-wife team of King Kimo Kaliloa Viado and Queen Linda Kainani Viado.
“Troy always does a good job with May Day so we tell our guests to visit the Waiohai for May Day celebrations,” said Aunty Stella Burgess, director of culture at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa
Burgess, in fact, served as a judge for the lei contest, which featured not only flowers but also a recyclable materials category as well as an edible category, with visitors and guests being invited to join the judging by placing money in drink cups next to each entry.
Lei was not restricted to the contest as an abundance was presented to honored kupuna Aunty Janet Kahalekomo, whose most recent accomplishment was the restoration of the hula mound at ‘Ele‘ele School.
“Aunty Janet, being a key family resource, provides and shares mana‘o that is true to the culture and traditions of old Hawai‘i,” said Gary Heu, administrative assistant to Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.
Lazaro said during the days of the former Waiohai Hotel, Kahalekomo served as the director of housekeeping. She continues to help the hotel with various projects, most notably to help guests understand Hawaiian culture and traditions.
“Strong family values and teachings of old Hawai‘i are second nature to Aunty Janet, who with her ‘ohana of four generations, all practice the making of Hawaiian Salt, or pa‘akai, at the Salt Pond pans in Hanapepe,” Heu said.
Kahalekomo. one of Kaua‘i’s outstanding lei makers, constantly teaches her grandchildren the art. She also shares lei making with visitors and continues to plant flowers, harvesting and creating beautiful lei that are worn at graduations and displayed at the Kaua‘i Museum and the Waiohai.
Tears, like raindrops from the sky, wet the lei that were placed around Kahalekomo’s neck by Yannarell, Heu, and Burgess, a close friend, in honor of her volunteerism and passion for perpetuating the Hawaiian culture.
More tears flowed as Queen Viado, after performing an auana hula celebrating the lei, placed the lei she used in the hula around Kahalekomo’s already lei-bedecked neck.
In 1928, writer and poet Don Blanding wrote an article in a local newspaper suggesting that a holiday be created centering around the Hawaiian custom of making and wearing lei.
The seed Lei Day in Hawai‘i was planted, and another writer, Grace Tower Warren, came up with the idea of a holiday on May 1 in conjunction with May Day. Warren is also responsible for the phrase, “May Day is Lei Day,” and Lei Day was first celebrated on O‘ahu on May 1, 1928, according to Hawai‘i’s official tourism Web site, gohawaii.com
In 1929, Lei Day was made an official holiday, interrupted only during the years of World War II, and the holiday continues today.
That tradition continues to be instilled in the minds of children as kupuna like Kahalekomo strive to tell people about the importance of Hawaiian culture through hula, song, games, storytelling of old Hawaiian myths and legends.
The protocol of mahalo and appreciation had lei being presented at the Kihahouna Heiau by dignitaries, including Kahalekomo, the walled heiau once occupying an area of 130 feet by 90 feet at the ocean point of the resort, the area being secured by hedges of naupaka and a wooden gate marked with a bronze plaque.
May Day celebrations continue today at the Kaua‘i Museum with a variety of entertainment and outdoor activities starting at 10:30 a.m.
