Lei Day Hawaiian Culture Shirt - Aloha Tee, Hawaii Heritage Gift, Pacific Islander

"May Day is Lei Day in Hawai'i." The line is from a 1928 song, and the holiday came not long after — a single day each year when the whole state wears flowers and remembers what they mean. This design honors that bright, blooming first of May.

Lei Day was founded in 1928 by poet Don Blanding and writer Grace Tower Warren as a way to celebrate the Hawaiian art of lei-making and the spirit of aloha. It became an official Hawaiian state holiday and is observed every May 1st across the islands — with lei-making contests, hula performances, the crowning of a Lei Day Queen, and schoolchildren stringing plumeria and ti leaves by the hundreds. Each island has its own associated flower and color: Maui's is the lokelani, O'ahu's the 'ilima, Kaua'i's the mokihana berry.

For locals, it's the elementary-school assemblies that imprinted aloha early. For visitors, it's the holiday that reframes flowers as language — and now you wear the date.

Soft unisex tee. Multiple sizes and colorways available.