KAILUA-KONA — May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii, and nowhere was that truer Friday night than at Kahakai Elementary, which played host to a colorful and elaborate celebration for local students and their families.
Linda Nagai, Parents and Community Network Coordinator at Kahakai, said the May Day celebration — a Hawaiian tradition stretching back to the 1950s when she was growing up — was shelved for more than a decade. In its place, the school hosted Spring Fest. However, the May Day celebration was resurrected three years ago at the behest of teachers who were passionate about its reinstatement.
Ceremonies kicked off with a procession of the May Day Court, including Princes and Princesses representing each island and, of course, the May Day King and Queen — Noah Condon and Taimane Luisa Ku’ualoha Alo.
“Being the May Day Queen is being the perfect role model,” wrote Alo in a prepared statement that was read over the loudspeaker during her procession and printed in the May Day program. “(It) is special to me because it gives me the opportunity to honor my ancestors, my Hawaiian culture and my parents.”
Following the procession were several choreographed performances, including one from ninth grade students at Seisa Gakuen Hokuto Junior High School in Japan. The Japanese students, who danced and played taiko drums, were visiting as part of an exchange program set up between Kahakai principal Jim Denight and Japan’s SEISA Group, run by Yasuo Miyazawa.
The SEISA Group, which has been sending middle-school-aged students to Hawaii for 10 years, was started four decades ago with only a few students and a special focus on helping children with special education needs. Since then, the private school organization has expanded and now educates tens of thousands of both special and general education students alike from kindergarten through college.
Japanese students make the trek across the Pacific to Kahakai twice yearly, and in 2016, a group of Hawaiian students made the first ever trip to Japan. Five Kahakai fifth-graders, all of whom are a part of Nagai’s after school Japanese class, spent five days in Japan immersing themselves in the culture.
“It was to help them become a little more insightful of the culture and history of Japan, and get a little bit of the language,” Denight said. “They really got to feel the culture. Miyazawa has a good friend who is one of the top sushi chefs in Tokyo, who came to his home and put on a special night for the kids.”
Kathy Bear and her daughter Taylor were among the group to make the trip. Bear said that along with being treated to some of the best sushi in Tokyo, the children and their chaperones visited a Buddhist temple and a SEISA school, where they learned to play taiko drums. She described the experience as an honor.
“The food was always delicious, and they treated us like family,” said the 10-year-old Taylor, who added that the best part of the experience was all the new friends she made. “The trip went a little too fast, because I had too much fun.”
Denight said that like the recently reinstated May Day Celebration, Kahakai plans to continue the exchange program in perpetuity moving forward.