Halau honors fallen soldiers with Memorial Day lei draping tradition

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - At the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl on Monday, there was no large Memorial Day ceremony as is tradition and the Boy Scouts did not provide the usual flag and lei for every grave.

But there was a steady stream of visitors, including members of a hula halau who’ve been making lei for years.

Kumu hula Carolee Nishi started making Memorial Day lei more than 20 years ago. Even though there's no big ceremonies, she says carrying on this tradition is more important than ever.

Picking petals and making lei for Memorial Day started as a way to honor Nishi’s brother-in-law, who was in the famed 442nd. Typically, her halau gathers to make 12,000 lei.

"Aloha is everything but gratitude is everything else," said Nishi.

But due to the pandemic, this year’s tradition is scaled back to mostly a family affair and they made 300 lei for the graves of fallen soldiers.

"I don't think it's a matter of being sad because other things replace it. The boys are still making their leis. I don't think they worry if there's a pandemic or not," she said.

Once at Punchbowl, halau member Mana Maluyo and his two younger brothers place a lei at soldier’s graves and saluted them for their ultimate sacrifice.

"There's some unknown soldiers here who don't have loved ones or even know them. I took it upon myself to make lei for them for what they did," said Maluyo.

Mana and Dezmen are Eagle Scouts while DJ will soon reach that rank.

Their mother says this blend of Hawaiian values of honoring kupuna and the reverence of scouting fill her with pride for her boys.

"To see them do this willingly every year, it's awesome. It's more of a journey. They pick the ti leaves, they make the leis and they go ahead and lay the leis in a most reverent way. That means a lot to me," said Nita Maluyo.

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