Kumulau Foundation

07/31/2026

Many don’t know this “other” historically recognized July holiday.

“I’ll tell you one holiday that was scratched off the books, probably right after the overthrow but certainly by the time the republic was set up in 1894,” says Manu Boyd. “It’s La Ho‘iho‘i ‘Ea.”

He calls it the “other” July holiday, the day that sovereignty was restored to the Hawaiian nation after an unauthorized takeover and five-month occupation led by a rogue British naval officer in 1843.

To resolve a dispute over land, Captain Lord George Paulet threatened to attack Honolulu, and in the process claimed Hawai‘i for Britain. The Crown responded by sending Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas, who restored power to Kamehameha III on July 31, 1843.

A phrase from Kamehameha III’s speech that day eventually become the state motto of Hawai‘i: “Ua mau ke ‘ea o ka ‘aina i ka pono,” usually translated as “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

Before it was banned, Restoration Day was lavishly celebrated. On its fourth anniversary Kamehameha III hosted a legendary lu‘au for twelve thousand guests, which so far as anyone knows is the largest in Hawai‘i history.

Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual of 1930 recounted the numbers: four thousand horses, one thousand horsewomen and 2,500 horsemen were among those who gathered at Kaniakapupu, Kamehameha III’s summer home in Nu‘uanu. The preparations claimed 271 pigs, 602 chickens, more than a thousand salt fish, four thousand taro corms and staggering quantities of other foods, with hula and chanting in abundance.

After 1893 the holiday faded from cultural memory, and Restoration Day went mostly unremarked until Hawaiian independence activist Kekuni Blaisdell resurrected La Ho‘iho‘i ‘Ea in 1985, in the wake of the Hawaiian Renaissance that began in the mid-1970s.

Today observers commemorate Hawaiian independence with Hawaiian games, crafts, speeches, entertainment and food booths each July 31 in Honolulu’s Thomas Square, named for the admiral who returned power to Kamehameha III.

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Excerpt from "Hana Hou" Magazine, Hawaiian Airlines, Vol. 15, no. 6
Dec. 2012 / Jan. 2013

Photo of exhibit panel from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

10/02/2025

Rest in aloha…

05/02/2025

Uniquely Hawaii, May 1st:
May Day is Lei Day

May Day/Lei Day became an official holiday in 1929.

Lei Day celebrations continue today, marking the first day of May with lei-making competitions, concerts, and the giving and receiving of lei among friends and family.

Happy Lei Day! Aloha ʻāina.

🤙🏽Drop a pic of your fave lei in the comments...
(Aunty Amelia Bailey creating a beautiful haku lei. Photo courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) / Tor Johnson)

11/30/2024

This Anglo-Franco Proclamation was signed on that day in 1843 by Britain and France. Lā Kūʻokoʻa was one of the major kingdom holidays celebrated, along with Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, for five decades.

Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian citizens of the kingdom alike would celebrate with visits to the palace, feasts, speeches, and mele.

After the overthrow, the Republic of Hawaiʻi declared Thanksgiving an official holiday in the hopes that it would overshadow Lā Kūʻokoʻa, and it worked as many residents of Hawaiʻi have never celebrated Lā Kūʻokoʻa.

Aloha 'āina.

11/14/2024

Ho’omaika’i Kumu!

Vicky Holt Takamine, a master teacher of hula, was awarded the 31st annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, the Gish Prize Trust announced today.

10/08/2024

The Legacy of Indigenous Film:

Written by Uncle Merv Tano,
October 2013

(Rest in aloha, Uncle)

“Aloha. The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management is primarily a law and policy research institute.

Many of you know the Institute as a "think tank" or "forward studies unit." And we are that.

But we are also the organizers of the International Film & Arts Festival.

Actually, today is day one of the 10th Indigenous Film & Arts Festival.

"Why," you may ask, "is a law and policy research institute organizing a film festival?"

We're involved because film, especially good film, and especially film written, made, and directed indigenous peoples, is perhaps the most expressive medium we have for communicating messages about who we were; who we are; and who we are striving to become.

These messages undergird all the work we do whether it's examining the societal impacts of genetic research, or looking at roles indigenous peoples can play in warning and educating the public of long-lived environmental contamination, or developing different approaches for protecting native intellectual property rights.

Film lets us "talk story."

It lets us convey to others our unique perspective of the universe and all the creatures, places, and things within.

Film lets the viewer see with our eyes how we are connected to each other and to past and future generations in more compelling ways than the mere written words permits.

Financing the festival, somewhat like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, has always depended on kindness-not of strangers, but of friends.

In the past we limited our appeals to our friends in foundations, corporations, community-based organizations, arts agencies, and tribes.

This year we're appealing to you and our other friends in our social media networks.

We have a boon or two to beg.

First, we'd ask that you come to one or more of our screenings this year and share the 10th Indigenous Film & Arts Festival program with your friends and colleagues in the Denver Metroplex.

Second, we're asking you to support the 10th Indigenous Film & Arts Festival financially and ask your friends and colleagues to do so as well.

The Institute is a tax-exempt organization. Your donations, in any amount, will be much appreciated.

Mahalo nui.”