The tradition of giving and wearing beautiful flower lei is deeply rooted in Hawaiian culture. A birthday, anniversary, or any special occassion just would not be the same without the fragrance of those pretty blossoms wafting in the air. Any day becomes an occassion when you wear a lei. One caution, never refuse the offering of this gift, as this may be seen as a personal insult.
The introduction of western culture, upon Captain James Cooke's arrival in 1778 threw Hawaiian society into turmoil, including the art of lei making. Hula and the old ways were discouraged, and so the decline of Hawaiian culture began. The official comeback took place when King Kalakaua took the throne in 1874. Known as the "Merrie Monarch", he brought back the hula, and lei making. The grandest of lei in Hawaiian history was called the lei niho palaoa, a symbol of chiefly rank. It was strung with tightly braided human hair, and featured a hook shaped pendant carved from a sperm whale's to.
Each Island is Represented by a Lei
The island of Oahu's lei is the ilima, a rich yellow orange color once only worn by Hawaiian royalty. This paper thin flower is difficult and time consuming to sew into lei, but the finished product is magnificent. Hundreds of flowers are needed to make a single strand.
The Big Island has the bright red 'ohi'a lehua it's flower. This tree grows along slopes of the volcano, and is considered sacred to Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess.
Maui's flower is the pink lokelani or "rose of heaven", and can
often be seen with ferns and other flowers.
Kaua'i's lei is the purple mokihana. It's flower and fragrant berries are
strung like beads after being dried. Mokihana is only found Kauai.
Moloka'i's lei is kukui, it has a silvery leaf and tiny white flowers. The kukui nut is nicknamed
candlenut, because the oil was once used in torches and lamps. You can
also find these nuts strung into lei.
The island of Lana'i has the kaunaoa vine for it's lei.
Kaho'olawe has the hinahina which is a part of the geranium family and grows
along the beaches.
Lastly, Ni'ihau's pupu shell lei, Shells are
strung like strands of pearls.
The stephanotis or pua male is known as the marriage flower, often used as bridal lei and bouquet.
It is said to be bad luck to give a pregnant woman lei, said to bring bad luck to the unborn child.
The fragrant leafy maile lei is often worn by the groom during the wedding ceremony, it can also be worn by the ladies. Some flowers are more for woman, such as 'oha'i-ali'i, this bright red and yellow flower is often worn just by the ladies. The kika or cigar lei is thought of as a more masculine lei. These are not set in stone, just general conceptions.
Every lei maker has their own "best" way of stringing their flowers, these are the more well known methods.
"Kui" is when the stringing goes through the center or side of the flower with a needle, using a single thread. Two of the most common flower lei, plumeria, and carnation are both strung using the kui method.
The "hili" or braiding method is used to make maile lei, lacy ferns and ti leaves are also handled using this method.
"Kipuu" or knotting, leafy vines are knotted together to make a long draping lei.
"Wili" or winding method uses short ferns, banana stalks as well as ti leaves.
"Haku", or display method. This lei is called the haku lei, however there is no haku flower, this is the name of the method. The lei starts with a background of foliage such as fern, then small flowers, such as roses are set onto this base.
"Humu-papa" is a sewing method.Ti and banana are traditional backings used to make this lei. Flowers and foliage are then sewn onto this base.
As mentioned earlier, the plumeria is probably the most common lei flower. Often, this flower is used when making one's first lei. Maunaloa is a beautiful purple bloom that is used to make a draping and dramatic lei.
Pakalana, yellow-green in color with it's pleasant lemony scent is a
very popular lei. It takes about 150 flowers to make a strand, however,
you usually have several tied into one lei.
Pua kenikeni, a pretty light orange flower, came from the South Pacific
in the late 1800's. Having been sold for 10 cents a strand at one time,
it was given this Hawaiian name which means "dime flower". Tuberose is
abundant year round, and is actually a native of Mexico.
Also, many varieties of orchid are used to make beautiful lei.
Finally, though not common, the feather lei is highly prized and is used
as a band around your hat. The most prized feather is the pheasant. A
blue pheasant lei is made using the tiny fingernail sized feather. They
are taken from the neck feathers, which means it takes about 100 birds
to make theaverage hat lei.
Graphics, photos & writing copyright ©1998-2004 A.H./Kalakupua
Hawaii.
All Rights Reserved.
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