Dear tourist: the flowers in the bright-purple lei you received on your Hawaiian holiday almost certainly were not grown in the Aloha State.
The vast majority of those odourless orchids are imported from Thailand, where it is cheaper to grow and string them into the garlands synonymous with Hawaiian culture.
Some Hawaii lawmakers think the US state should be doing more to help the producers of lei made with locally grown flowers. Ideas include labelling requirements that would identify Hawaii-made garlands and a prohibition on state agencies buying imported lei, though some lei sellers worry that such rules would make the garlands too expensive.
“You don’t
come to Hawaii and not at least have a flower or a lei,” says Kuhio Lewis, chief executive of the Hawaiian Council, a non-profit organisation that promotes Native Hawaiian culture and business. “For us to now be importing is not good. It’s actually embarrassing.”
The custom of giving and wearing lei made of flowers, leaves, seeds or shells has always been associated with Hawaiian people, for whom the garlands represent love or the spirit of “aloha”. They were used not just for ceremonies but worn in everyday life by everyone from chiefs to children, according to a 2002 paper published by the University of Hawaii.