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Hawai'i Ko Aloha Flag (U.S.)

image by Peter Orenski, 16 January 2005

Hawai'i Ko Aloha Flag
The colors of the islands

See also:

Hawai'i Ko Aloha Flag

The colors in the background represents the Nine islands of the inhabited Hawaiian chain prior to the arrival of Western civilization.

Starting at the top:

Hawaii Island - Was the seat of power of Kamehameha I, its color is red which stands for the lehua blossom, which is the flower of the ohia tree found throughout the island.
Maui Island - the color is pink which stands for the pink rose like flower called lokelani, the meaning is heavenly rose. The flower is rare but represents Maui.
Kahoolawe Island - Its color is gray, the color of the hinahina plant found on this island.
Lanai Island - The color carrot yellow or orange for the color of the kaunaoa plants.
Molokai Island - The green is representative of the leaves of the kukui tree Its commonly referred to as the candlenut tree. Its nuts used for oil, food & medicine.
Oahu Island - Is yellow, for the yellow ilima blossoms.
Kauai Island - Its color is purple for the purple mokihana flower. The seeds of this plant were very fragrant and were strung into leis.
Niihau Island - Is represented by white. Stands for the small pupu (shells) that were strung there into leis. A ten strand lei of these tiny shells goes for about $2,500.00.
Nihoa Island - The northernmost inhabited Hawaiian island (not anymore) is represented by blue and stands for the blue sky and water which surrounds this island. No vegetation anymore.

The names of the colors in Hawaiian red - ulaula, pink - akala, gray - ahina, orange - alani, green - oma'oma'o, yellow - mele mele, purple - maku'e, white - ke'oke'o, blue - uli uli.

The word for flag in Hawaiian is hae (pronounced 'high'). The saying "Hawaii ko Aloha: means "Love of our land" or " Love of Hawaii". Our original (now state motto) is "ua mau keia o ka aina I ka pono" means "The life of our land is held in righteousness".

At the top of the crest is a mahiole. This was the Hawaiian crown, a battle and ceremonial helmet only worn by high chiefs. It was covered by feathers, and last made 250 years ago. The shield is called palulu and in ancient time was an 'aha ula or feathered cloak. This was used as a shield in time of battle and is represented by the red drape at the top of the shield. In the center is the hae kahili, or feathered standard. This was the ancient flag of the chiefs. Each island and chief had their own colors. This kahili represents all nine islands (nine colors). On each side is the pulo'ulo'u or kapu sticks. Between them is sacred and none may pass. It separates the reality from the spiritual. The paddle called hoe (pronounced 'hoy'), was used to bring our people on voyages of discovery which discovered this chain and to maintain contact between all peoples on all islands. The ihe (pronounced 'ee-hay') was used to defend our families from aggression, used to defend ourselves in time of war, and used to procure food from the mountains into the sea. The blue background of the shield represents the blue sky & sea surrounding our land.

The name of the flag is is HAWAI'I KO ALOHA
It represents the cultural people of Hawaii, lineal descendents of Hawaiians from Maka'ainana to Alii.
The design was given in a dream to Arthur M. Mahi, lineal descendent of Kamehameha I. The rest of us helped. We began talking with you about 1 month after it was initialized.
It was approved on December 9th, 2004
It will be used by the cultural court at all gatherings - parades, meetings, and when we travel to visit our relatives like the two trips coming up for New Zealand (Aotearoa) and Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Flags will be presented to the chiefs there. Any person of Hawaiian blood can fly this flag. Any person of any blood can have one. It represents the people of these islands.

Hugh Lovell, 15 January 2005

The colors of the islands

Island name (in Hawaiian)	source
	Hugh Lovell / Hawaiʻi Ko Aloha flag					[pcl03] & [kay04a]
	color name		shade		rationale	[pcl03] & [kay04a]
	English	Hawaiian	(¹)	(²)	rationale	color (³)
Hawaiʻi	red	ulaula		R	lehua blossom, of ohia tree
Maui	pink	akala		P-	lokelani flower	red
Kahoʻolawe	gray	ahina		G	hinahina plant	pink
Lānaʻi	orange	alani		O-	kaunaoa plant	yellow
Molokaʻi	green	omaʻomaʻo		V	kukui tree	green
Oʻahu	(golden) yellow	mele mele		Y+	ilima blossom
Kauaʻi	purple	makuʻe		P	mokihana flower
Niʻihau	white	keʻokeʻo		W	pupu shell
Nihoa	blue	uli uli		B-	sky and water

Notes:

as in this image by Peter Orenski, 16 January 2005
FotW color standard, with FIAV color codes
as shown in the Maui County flag - According to the proponents of the Hawai'i Ko Aloha flag, the color for Lanae is orange, not yellow, the color for Maui is pink, not red, and in turn the color for Kahoolawe is grey, not pink. While the former two differences can be acceptable variants, the later cannot. (Green for Molokai matches both sources.)

At starbulletin.com/2007/04/29/features/memminger.html local humorist Charles Memminger digresses about Hawaiian island colors and in passing confirms all accounts given by the proponents of the Hawai'i Ko Aloha flag. He informs also that "Oahu apparently had enough political clout to be able to modify its color. Golden yellow sounds better than just yellow".

António Martins-Tuválkin, 24 March 2008