Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 5, 1 May 2002 — Lei ʻilima [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Lei ʻilima

Auni}/ Honey ' KaUlio strings tradition

Story and photos by Manu Boyd All her life, Emelia Lam Ho Ka'īlio, known to many as "Aunty Honey," has greeted the day gathering flowers, "I was born in Waikāne, and raised at Ka'alaea, When I was in grade school at Waiāhole, we would wake up early and piek flowers for our mother who was a lei~seller in town, We grew all kinds of flowers: 'ilima, pua kenikeni, green rose, ixoria, but Maunaloa was her specialty, "I remember Lei Day pageants at Waiāhole, One of my best friends was lei queen twice, All the parents would make lei for the children, The older kids would go up the mountains in Waiāhole and piek maile and other greens, ī'm a country girl all the way, Our cousins in town used to eall us 'country jacks'," she chuckled, 70 years later and four miles down the road, Aunty Honey, along with husband David, sister īnga and a mimber of family helpers, cultivates a tradition she inherited from her mother, "This area is known as 'Pākole,' and was my husbands family land," she explained, ,And on her ineonspicuous lot on Kamehameha Hwy,, she grows many of the same flowers that her mother loved, 'īlima, the native blossom onee reserved for ali'i and the hula deity, has become a specialty of Ka'īlio, and requires patience and love, charac~ teristic of the Ka'īlio 'ohana, "īt takes up to 700 'ilima blossoms to make one lei, she remarked, as she and sister īnga loaded up several lei needles to push onto one string, "The most 'ilima lei we ever made in one day was 41 strands (28,700 blossoms), īmagine thatl" Honey Ka'īlio is also know for her lei of pua kenikeni or "ten cents flower," because when it was first introduced from the South Pacific, admiring kama'āina would pay up to a dime, just to enjoy its aromatic perfume, Pua kenikeni has

become the trademark flower of Ko'olaupoko, O'ahu, whose eool climate is ideal for the plant, "The flowers bloom white, and if left on the tree, change to yellow, then light orange, and finally, dark orange," she explained, gesturing to heaps of leis on the table for a special order, "Yesterday, we strung 54 kenikeni leis," she said, These days, Ka'īlio picks and chooses her orders based on availability of flowers and time, "We don't sell to the shops anymore, We just make what we ean," Can one surrounded by so many sweet flowers have a favorite? "Ginger," she said, "ī like white ginger strung the old Hawaiian way or sewn dou~ ble with two strings," she said, noting that she's not too fond of the trendy Micronesian style, "Ginger reminds me of the mountains, ī love the mountains," ■

Pāhfona

Aunty Honey einel her 'oheinei string lei every rnorning cit their horne cit Pōkole, O'eihu,