He Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei and its hōʻike, the Hilo Lei Day Festival, comprise a full year of integrated learning, with the goal of preservation and perpetuation, about the traditions and culture of traditional lei. Using the lei as a metaphor, participants learn Hawaiian perspectives of ecology – mālama ʻāina – to weave together an artistic story of their place in the world.
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Through grants from the Kukulu Ola program of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, and other generous contributors, He Moʻolelo kō ka Lei and the Hilo Lei Day Festival seek to:
- Document traditional Hawaiian styles of lei, including the associated moʻolelo, different gathering protocols and techniques, and fabrication techniques.
- Perpetuate the tradition of mele lei as one aspect of haku lei (lei construction)
- Create a dictionary of lei-making terminology to preserve and perpetuate the unique vocabulary of haku lei – the art and craft of lei making.
- Digitize and edit our collection of videos, and add more videos.
- Upgrade the Hilo Lei Day Festival website (LeiDay.org) with the information collected using best practices (The original website was receiving 17,000 hits per day before being hacked in 2013).
- Teach traditional Hawaiian lei styles throughout the year, including how to grow the materials, and the interrelationship of the lei plants with the Native Hawaiian ecosystems, including the insects, birds, snails, and akua with which they are symbiotic.
- Hold gardening and landscaping classes and workshops to encourage people to garden and landscape with traditional lei plants, especially Native Hawaiian varieties, and to create gardens which will sustain our unique native insect and bird life.
- Resume the Hilo Lei Day Festival as a hōʻike of lei making on 1 May at Kalākaua Park in Hilo.
“He Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei” was co-founded in 2005 by Kupuna Winona “Aunty Nona” Beamer and Leilehua Yuen. It began as a multi-media art show which depicted the story of the lei from different perspectives, incorporating storytelling, Hawaiian astronomy, the huakaʻi of Hiʻiakaikapuaʻenaʻena, goddess of lei making, and many other aspects not usually presented today. The show ran for the month of April, and culminated in a Lei Day celebration on May 1. The project has continued in one form or another since that time.
With the changing economy, we are moving toward sales and advertising based funding. Your purchase of advertising on this website will help us to keep growing this website, provide classes throughout the year, and continue the annual Hilo Lei Day Festival. For advertising information, please visit our Funding page.
If you are looking for lei making resources, please purchase through our links, and help keep our site on-line!
Our Mission:
The mission of the Hilo Lei Day Festival is to preserve, perpetuate, celebrate, and share the many types of the traditional Hawaiian lei, and the specialized language associated with them, and to help preserve, protect, and restore the unique ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands while celebrating our multi-cultural heritage.