LIHU‘E — Nothing evokes the feeling of May Day lei like the fragrance of white plumeria, said Mercy Labrabor of the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center Saturday at the Kaua‘i Museum. Kats Tamanaha, who coordinated the 2012 Children’s Lei Contest for
LIHU‘E — Nothing evokes the feeling of May Day lei like the fragrance of white plumeria, said Mercy Labrabor of the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center Saturday at the Kaua‘i Museum.
Kats Tamanaha, who coordinated the 2012 Children’s Lei Contest for the Kaua‘i Museum, was joined by his daughter Lani and a host of other volunteers in hosting La Lei Workshop for Keiki in preparation for the 2013 Kaua‘i Museum Annual May Day Lei Contest, which will be held on May 4.
“You need to read the instructions really good,” Kats told the group of budding lei makers. “Last year, we only had two entries, but had prizes for more than two lei makers. You need to follow the instructions so you can qualify for the prizes.”
Kaua‘i Museum volunteers joined Tamanaha and La‘a Almeida, the museum’s education coordinator, in leading the keiki through the various types of lei, using posters illustrating the different types of lei including kui, kipu‘u, wili, humu papa, hili and haku.
The plethora of lei material took on the flavor of May Day, everything bonded together with the fragrance of the plumeria, which was brought to the workshop by a young lei maker.
“This is so important that children learn about this part of our culture,” said Eugene Punzal, a coconut frond crafter. “I just recently retired, and I’m going to see if I can bring my coconut frond craft to the museum so others can learn about the art of weaving coconut fronds.”
Almeida said the Saturday La Lei workshop was the only one scheduled before the May Day Lei Contest on May 4.
For more information on the lei contest, call the museum at 245-6931.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
