Lei (garland) the time, Blanding was employed by the "Honolulu Star Bulletin", and he shared his idea with columnist Grace Tower Warren, who came up with the phrase, "May Day is Lei Day". The Hawaiian song, "May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii" was composed in 1927 by Ruth and Leonard "Red" Hawk. At the 81st Annual Mayor's Lei Day Celebration at Kapiolani Park in 2008, Honolulu set the record for the World's Longest Lei. Unofficially, the lei measured 5,336 feet in length, more than a mile. All of the major islands celebrate Lei Day, and each island is symbolized in pageantry
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