Aloha Festivals Aloha Festivals The Aloha Festivals are an annual series of free cultural celebrations observed in the state of Hawaii in the United States. It is the only statewide cultural festival in the nation. Highlights include the presentation of the Royal Court, a ho'olaule'a in Waikiki, and the Floral Parade. Approximately 30,000 people volunteer to plan, organize, and provide labor for the Aloha Festivals each year. Their efforts entertain over 1,000,000 people from throughout the state and visitors from all over the world. In the spirit of preserving the Hawaiian culture and heritage, the Aloha Festivals were established in 1946 as
Aloha of examples dating back as far as 1798 and up to 1978 where it was defined as a substitute for "welcome". The modern, common use epitomizes the appropriation of the Hawaiian Language and the cultural dispossession of Native Hawaiians. Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian dictionary, called "A dictionary of the Hawaiian language". In it he describes "aloha" as "A word expressing different feelings; love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert's "Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian" also contains a similar definition. The modern use as a greeting