Human Flower Project
Mile Long Lei for May Day
Volunteers strung together more than 81,000 orchids, plumeria, and other tropical flowers May 1, Lei Day, in Honolulu. They created a garland 5336 feet long, and registered the human flower project with the Guinness Book of World Records. When completed the lei reached half way around Kapiolani Park, the largest park in Hawaii.
Lei are traditionally given as honoraria, and this would be no exception. Mayor Mufi Hannemann, 2008 Lei Day Queen Paulette Kahalepuna and sponsors of the celebration were to give the giant lei to the crowd, inviting them to take segments of it home as souvenirs. Kaiulani Vincent Kauahi, an organizer of Lei Day, said, “We will also take pieces to the Royal Mausoleum to be placed on the graves of the ali’i,” Hawaii’s sacred ancestors.
Photo: Lucy Pemoni, for AP