May Day is laden with nostalgia
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
When Lisa Yamashiro dips, the sixth-grade pupils of Pu'ohala Elementary in Kane'ohe dip in sync. When she bops her head and swings her arms, they follow suit. And when she ends the routine with a three-beat "and ... down," they all take a knee.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Just not at the same time.
Fourth- and fifth-graders of Pu'ohala Elementary School rehearse "Pate Pate," a Tokelauan dance number, for their May Day program. In a departure from the calendar, the school in Kane'ohe will celebrate May Day next Friday.
"Together!" she yells. "Together!"
Perhaps it's a good thing that the school's big May Day program falls on May 7 this year, and not on the traditional first day of the month. Yamashiro's charges are making great progress on their tricky hip-hop dance routine, but another week of drills on the school's open grass field wouldn't hurt.
In fact, the entire school, kindergarten through sixth grade, English language and Hawaiian immersion, might want to use the extra time to savor a local tradition that has been deemed too onerous or too distracting at some Hawai'i elementary schools.
Because the typical May Day affair requires a mammoth investment of time and effort by students, teachers and parents, many schools now celebrate May Day every other year. Thus, at schools like Liholiho Elementary in Kaimuki, "even" years like 2004 are breather years.
Lili'uokalani Elementary School in Wai'alae had its break last year, but administrators decided to take this year off as well because of extensive renovations being done at the school.
"It's usually quite a production," said Lili'uokalani principal James Toyooka. "To do it justice takes a lot of time and commitment."
If the school can pull together enough energy and manpower, it may celebrate May Day next year. If not, then in 2006.
It's been a few years since 'Aiea Elementary had a May Day program. Principal Art Kaneshiro isn't sure when they ever will again.
Advertiser library photo • 1928
"We're having a music festival instead," he said.
In 1928, university student Nina Bowman presided over her court as Hawai'i's first Lei Day queen.
Kaneshiro said federal "No Child Left Behind" requirements have put increased pressure on teachers and administrators to improve test scores, so much so that May Day programs and other cultural activities have become difficult to accommodate.
"I think that's wrong," he said. "May Day helps to bring the community together and it gets the child involved in an activity that helps them develop necessary skills like oral language development.
"People think that if we have to raise test scores then don't do May Day," he said. "But children aren't going to remember AYPs (Adequate Yearly Progress); they're going to remember being a part of May Day. I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way."
While May Day has been celebrated as a rite of spring in Europe for hundreds of years — with many traditions surviving the passage to America — its meaning in Hawai'i has more to do with its dual duty as Lei Day, an idea proposed by Honolulu Star-Bulletin columnist Grace Tower Warren in 1927 and quickly formalized as a celebration of the Hawaiian tradition of lei.
Over the years, generations of Hawai'i students have passed into adulthood with a succession of elaborate May Day programs in elementary, middle, and high school. From the prestige of a May Day court position to the drudgery of rehearsals in the hot sun, to the high pageantry of the school in full floral dress, the May Day/Lei Day experience is, to many, a grand representation of local culture and values.
Advertiser library photo • May 1985
"I think May Day is bigger here than in other places," said Kalae Akioka, a Hawaiian immersion kindergarten teacher at Pu'ohala. "It's probably more of a local thing than a Hawaiian thing, but it's good for our community. It brings people together."
In 1985, Lehua Elementary School had special guests for Lei Day when the Aloha Week royal court came to view the campus festival.
It's also a lot of work.
Akioka heads Pu'ohala's May Day committee, which has met at least once a month dating to last school year to prepare for the 1 1/2-hour event.
Made up of teachers and a small but, by necessity, active group of parents, the committee divides a host of responsibilities — everything from inviting special guests, coordinating help from the Marines, and overseeing May Day court selections to marking the field, soliciting flower donations and working with the student emcees.
"The stress for us is to try to do our regular job and then do all this other stuff," said Mary Place, a sixth-grade teacher.
Yamashiro, the sixth-grade teacher and designated dance coach, agrees.
"It's a squeeze," she said. "But it's what you have to do."
The theme for this year's program is "Celebrating Diversity," and each grade level at Pu'ohala has prepared a performance specially designed to highlight the school's ethnic and cultural diversity.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Yamashiro and Place's sixth-graders wanted to do a hip-hop number, so Yamashiro picked a song, then worked with a group of pupils on the choreography.
Six-grader Ariel Navares will not only do a hip-hop dance with her Pu'ohala classmates but, as princess of Maui, will perform a hula.
"We tried to be different from everybody," said Ariel Navares, one of the pupils who helped with the routine. "We picked up some moves from MTV, and we had some of our own moves."
Navares is one of 18 fifth- and sixth-graders selected to serve on the May Day court. As the princess of Maui, Navares will perform a three-minute hula as well as dance with her sixth-grade classmates.
"I'm kind of nervous," she admitted.
While Pu'ohala's program may lack some of the elaborate costumes and staging that other schools have, Tuesday's rehearsals indicated that parents will be in for an eclectic, well-rehearsed treat.
Teachers Chelsea Cosma and Chasity Namba oversaw the final rehearsal of that day. With a blazing midday sun above, they prepped their fourth- and fifth-graders for a rare performance of Tokelauan dance. (Tokelauans are natives of New Zealand.)
"We're going to do it again," Cosma told her pupils after a sloppy first run-through. "Then we're going to do it again. Then we're going to do it again. And if you still don't know what do to, we'll do it again."
Such dedication could only make Akioka smile.
"With 'No Child Left Behind' there is so much emphasis on math and language arts that kids are not as well rounded as they used to be," she said. "There isn't enough of the other arts and physical education. They don't go outside."
Jessica Opiopio, whose children Sasha Irvine, 12, Kamakana, 8, and Shaynna, 5, all attend Pu'ohala, said she'd would like to see more activities like the May Day program for her kids.
"It really shows them the aloha spirit and how to love one another," she said.
And that's not all.
"I used to really look forward to the candy leis," she said, laughing.
Margo Baker said she can't wait to see her grandson Wildon Baker IV, a Hawaiian immersion first-grader, take part in his first May Day program.
"When I was growing up we had the full-on king and queen, and dancing and everything," she said. "Even when his dad was in school, it was very elaborate.
"It's not as elaborate as before and I miss that. It's lost some of its punch."
Still, Baker said, it's better than having no program at all.
"The spirit of Lei Day is aloha and sharing," she said. "I think it's wrong (that schools don't have May Day). Culture has to be learned and upheld. If not, you're denying kids of something really important."
Reach Michael Tsai at 535-2461, or e-mail at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
