Ka La Ho'iho'i Ea — Sovereignty Restoration Day — was a national holiday in the days of the monarchy. The occasion has gained renewed significance in recent years for Native Hawaiians and others who seek national independence from the United States.

As has been the custom for more than a decade, a gathering of independence groups and their supporters will lower the American flag and raise Hawaiian Kingdom banners at Thomas Square. It was at the site in 1843 that Adm. Richard Thomas, British Pacific fleet commander, ordered the lowering of the British flag after condemning and withdrawing the military occupation headed by another British sailor, Lord George Paulet.

Also Sunday, speakers will gather at the Native Books/Na Mea Hawai'i outlet at Ward Warehouse to give presentations on restoration day and what it means to be a Hawaiian national in today's world.

Kekuni Blaisdell, among the chief organizers for the Thomas Square event, said it is important for Native Hawaiians to ponder the events of 1843. Blaisdell and others want the United States to "withdraw from the illegal occupation" of Hawai'i. They oppose the Akaka bill, now stalled in Congress, which provides a process for Native Hawaiians to be federally recognized.

"Britain recognized its wrong — the illegal occupation of our homeland," Blaisdell said. The United States in 1993 issued an apology for its role in the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893, but unlike the British, has not withdrawn from Hawai'i, he said.

The Thomas Square event will begin at 10 a.m. with an 'awa ceremony and recounting of the events of 1843.

After the raising of the Hawaiian flag, at about 12:30 p.m., those gathered will march along South King Street to the steps of Kawai-aha'o Church. It was on the church steps on July 31, 1843, in the aftermath of the Paulet occupation, that King Kamehameha III proclaimed the day an annual holiday and uttered the words, "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono," the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness, Blaisdell said. From the church, the gathering will head to 'Iolani Palace for speeches, music and dance.

More than a dozen groups are sponsoring the Thomas Square event, among them the Kanaka Maoli Tribunal Komike, Ka Pakaukau and the Pro-Kanaka Maoli Independence Working Group, Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific and the Hui Pu.

The Native Books event, co-sponsored by Pae 'Aina Productions, will run from 3 to 5 p.m. Presentations are scheduled by Williamson Chang, a University of Hawai'i Richardson School of Law professor, and David Keanu Sai, a doctoral candidate in political science at UH who maintains that the Hawaiian Kingdom still exists and is being illegally occupied.

Nai'a Watson of Pae 'Aina Productions, which is co-sponsoring the Ward Warehouse event with Native Books/Na Mea Hawai'i, agreed with Blaisdell that today's generation can learn much from the 1843 events.

"It's people remembering everything it took to get to where they are today, what their ancestors did," Watson said.

Pae 'Aina, a publisher, also is using the occasion to launch its release of the Ku'e Petitions that were sent to Congress in 1898 in an "island-by-island" format. The Ku'e Petitions contained the signatures of thousands of Native Hawaiians who opposed U.S. annexation.

The new format makes it easier for people to locate the names of ancestors or others they wish to find, Watson said.

"People need to take it upon themselves to educate themselves by looking at the original documents," she said.