King Kamehameha Day Parade

King Kamehameha Day Parade was Originally Posted on June 12, 2011 by lavarock

What a nice parade we had today honoring King Kamehameha I who conquered the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of HawaiÊ»i in 1810. He is also remembered for Kanawai Mamalahoe which is the “Law of the Splintered Paddle”. This law protects the human rights of non-combatants during war. He was the first King of Hawaii.

The parade is the 95th annual celebration. This year the theme is Wahine Holo Lio (women on horseback) and most of the participants were women on horseback!

It is very expensive to have horses shipped inter island, so to represent each island, local riders dress in traditional garb and flowers of the particular island they represent.

The women were riding pa`u (long flowing gowns) and many of the leis were quite intricate. There were over 90 horses in the parade and 2 or 3 actual floats. It is quite amazing to see so many women on horseback at one time, especially considering that we are an island in the middle of the Pacific and not somewhere in the mid west.

I hope that you will investigate such things as King Kamehameha the firsts’ legacy, pa`u skirts and the history of horses and cattle and the Parker Ranch. I find these things quite interesting and I hope you will too.

Many photos of our parade are here:

http://www.planet-aloha.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=51