Prince Kūhiō’s Birthday to be Added to the Holidays Celebrated in Hawaiʻi, 1923.
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa published on March 1, 1923.
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
Dear Reader,
Last week Thursday, we celebrated the birthday of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, born on March 26th, 1871. In the House of Representatives Session of 1923, a legislative bill was introduced so that his birthday would be assigned a holiday and added to the holidays celebrated in Hawaiʻi.
Image: Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole of Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. Photo credited to the Denver Post and the New York Herald, ca. 1915. Bishop Museum Archives, SP 204282.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org
Although this column can indeed be found online, it cannot be read in its entirety due to its proximity to the bound margin of the nūpepa volume. Compare the legibility of the online scan of the microfilm to a copy of the original nūpepa digitized by our He Aupuni Palapala project team.
Image: “Ka La Hanau O Kalanianaole.” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, March 1, 1923, p. 1. [Digitized from microfilm.]
Image: “Ka La Hanau O Kalanianaole.” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, March 1, 1923, p. 1.
The Birthday of Kalanianaʻole.
If indeed this legislative bill that was introduced into the House of Representatives on the first day that the territorial legislature was opened by the Honorable J. W. Kalua [John William Kalua] of Maui is to become a law, then one new holiday will be added on with the currently standing government holidays established by law.
In the legislative bill that Hon. Kalua had introduced, it will assign the 26th day of March, the birthday of Prince Kalanianaʻole, a government holiday.
The holidays within the new legislative bill that was introduced, including the holidays that continue to be celebrated are as follows:
January 1 [New Year], February 22 [Washington’s Birthday], March 26 [Prince Kūhiō Day], May 30 [Decoration (Memorial) Day], June 11 [Kamehameha Day], July 4 [Birthday of the Hawn. Republic and American Anniversary], the first Monday [Labor Day] and third Saturday [Regatta Day] of September, November 11 [Victory (Veterans’) Day]1, and December 25 [Christmas Day].
It will also be clarified within that bill, those are not the only government holidays commemorated in the year, but another as well that the President of the United States will proclaim a holiday, and a day that the governor of Hawaiʻi will proclaim, and in addition to those well-known days that were clarified above, the election days of the Territory and the counties are some other government holidays.
1All holiday names from: Thrum, Thomas G. “Holidays Observed at the Hawaiian Islands.” In Hawaiian Annual for 1923, p.6. Thrum’s Hawaiian Almanac and Annual no. 49. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, 1922. *Veterans’ Day was known as Victory Day in Hawaiʻi from 1919 until 1941 when it was amended by Hawaiʻi Session Law Act 132 and renamed to Armistice Day, and then again in 1955 by Act 9, to Veterans’ Day.
Members of the House of Representatives, Session of 1923.
Image: Members of the House of Representatives, Session of 1923, published in Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, March 1, 1923, p.1. J. W. [John Williams] Kalua is pictured in the bottom line on the far right.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org
This is a picture of the 30 members of the House of Representatives of this session of the local Legislature. Beginning from the left to the right, all the way at the bottom—R. W. Filler, M. G. Paschoal, Evan da Silva, F. K. Aona, John Ferreira, the Speaker [Lunahoomalu] Clarence H. Cooke, the Vice Speaker [Hope Lunahoomalu] Emil M. Muller, Edwin K. Fernandes, Thomas Pedro, Jr., and John W. Kalua; in the middle line—William A. Clark, John C. Anderson, Charles K. Farden, G. H. Holt, Jr., Robert Wilhelm, Levi L. Joseph, David K. Hayselden, Albert R. Cunha, William J. Coelho, and Gerrit P. Wilder; the top line—S. W. Meheula, T. H. Petrie, W. K. Hussey, J. H. Coney, C. K. Stillman, Jr., F. D. Lowrey, H. J. Auld, G. H. Vicars, R. A. Vitousek, and John de C. Jerves.
This post is part of He Aupuni Palapala: Preserving and Digitizing the Hawaiian Language Newspapers, a partnership between Bishop Museum and Awaiaulu with assistance from Kamehameha Schools. Mahalo nui loa to Hawaii Tourism Authority for their support. Learn more about this project here.
