Lei

I first started dancing hula when I was two (2) years old and we wore lei for every performance we did. My parents and I often made my lei ourselves. In Hawaii, lei is worn and/or given on many special occasions including performances, birthdays, and anniversaries, but they are most abundant at graduations. Here are a couple pictures of a lei that I made for my friend, DeAnna Basques's, graduation from the Masters of Public Health program at the University of Hawaii: Manoa in May 2014.

Her favorite color is purple, so I started out with two types of purple flowers, small white flowers, and greenery. (Also in this picture are a bundle of rafia and a roll of ribbon, which will be explained further below.)

I then took a few strands of rafia, tied them together, and proceeded to braid the foliage into the strands to create the lei.

Lastly, I wrapped ribbon around the rafia chord to give the lei a more polished look, leaving excess ribbon on the ends so that the lei could easily be tied and worn.

A lei isn't truly complete unless it's being worn! This picture is of DeAnna on her graduation day. She's wearing the lei around her head.