Lei Day Lei Day Lei Day is a statewide celebration in all of Hawaii. The celebration begins in the morning of May first every year and continues throughout the entire day and even continues onto the next day. Lei day was established as a holiday in the year of 1929 and continues to this day. Each Hawaiian island has a different type of lei that is used for the celebration and for its people to wear. The festivities have consistently grown each year and the state of Hawaii has had to move the location of the event. Lei day was first held
Lei tai " (Traditional: 打擂臺 Simplified: 打擂台 - "Fight Beat (a drum) Platform"). The character for "Dǎ" combines the word for “robust or vigorous” (dīng 丁) with the radical for "hand" (shǒu 手). This can mean, "to strike, hit, beat, or fight". In Cantonese, using the Wade-Giles superscript number system, Lei tai is pronounced Leui Toi. A common English rendering of this is "Lui Toi or Loey Toy". Da lei tai is pronounced Da leui toi or Da leui toi. It is important to note the Chinese military once used a "Zhong Jun Lei Gu Tai" (中军擂鼓台 – “Central Military Drum Beating