On July 4, Native Hawaiians marked Independence Day in Hawaii with hula, history and sovereignty instead of treating it as a simple holiday of fireworks and American flags. At Bishop Museum, the annual ‘Ilau Ka Hula festival was held after being postponed from an earlier date, giving the day a different center of gravity.
The festival drew 11 hula halau, Native Hawaiian and locally owned businesses, and food vendors, a mix that made the gathering as much about daily survival as celebration. For ‘Ihilani Lasconia, a 27-year-old member of Halau Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima, that balance fit the moment: “While America celebrates 250 years of existence, we celebrate 133 years of resistance,” she said, adding that Hawaiian cultural traditions endure despite Americanization.
The timing mattered because the festival had to be pushed back after Kona low storms in March forced organizers to move it from an earlier date. That delay placed it squarely on July 4, when the holiday is already loaded in Hawaii with the memory of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, the establishment of the Republic of Hawaii in 1894, annexation in 1898 and statehood in 1959. Historians say the kingdom existed for more than 50 years as an internationally recognized sovereign nation before Queen Lili‘uokalani was removed.
That history is why some Native Hawaiians do not see the day the way many other Americans do. Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘opua said Hawaii had diplomatic ties with Britain, France and the United States in the 19th century, and she said, “We do not celebrate U.S. Independence Day in Hawaii because that isn’t our national holiday. We have our own national holidays.”
The contradiction is visible every year: fireworks and American flags still mark Independence Day across Hawaii, even as some families and cultural practitioners use the same date to underscore a nation that was lost and a political identity that did not disappear with statehood. Kailana Moa-Eli, who marched in the Queen’s Court and Ka Lahui Hawai‘i’s annual ‘Onipa‘a Peace March from Mauna‘ala Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley to ‘Iolani Palace, reflected that same thread of remembrance in a different setting, where protest and ceremony meet.
That is what made the July 4 observance more than a cultural calendar item. It was a reminder that in Hawaii, the holiday still divides along lines of memory and meaning, and the next question is not whether the fireworks will return, but how many people will keep answering the date with hula, history and a claim to their own national story.
