May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii — Hawaii

    In the state of Hawaii, May Day is Lei Day. Each year, May 1st marks Hawaii’s nationally-recognized Lei Day — an annual tribute to a culturally iconic symbol.  Celebrated by locals in Hawaii and dressed in Aloha attire, the custom honors the state’s flowers in the making, wearing and giving of the lei.  The giving and receiving of a lei is a common tradition throughout Polynesia. Original Hawaiian settlers carried this custom to the Hawaiian islands. In ancient Hawaiian times, commoners and chiefs of all genders wore lei.  In modern practice, men and women continue to wear and...