May Day

Ian and Shayne decked out for May Day, an important celebration of Hawaiian culture. I rarely have my children pose for a picture and you can see how awkward they feel as I take their picture.

Ian and his fellow classmates. Ian made his own flower lei, notice how huge it is compared to the others. The two girls on the right have been vying for Ian's attention all school year, but he is oblivious to it all....so far

Ian's kindergarten class did a interpretative hand dance to a wonderful song called "These islands". Notice Ian's intense concentration, his hand gestures were so deliberate and exact.

Shayne's 3rd grade class did a performance of traditional Hawaiian instruments - Uli Uli (yellow and red things), Puili (bamboo sticks), Ipu-heke-ole (dried gourds), and Ili Ili (the stones between Shayne's fingers.

Shayne with Kumuleilani (Coo-Moo-Le-La-Ni), the teacher who taught Shayne to play the Ili' Ili' (the small stones she has in her hands in the previous picture). The 3rd grader's performance was one of the best on May Day, I would say that even if my daughter was not in the class.

The fourth graders did a wonderful performance in traditional ti leave skirts. The children work for months practicing this performance which they only do once on May Day.

The May Day court is composed from students from each of the grades K-6, with the 6th graders are the King & Queen and the other grades are the princesses and escorts. Each princess represents one of the Hawaiian islands.