Cut them down right here.
You can see.
My name is Leilani Kanaauao Huggins, and I'm a lei maker.
I grew up, actually, here in Los Angeles.
I'm a fourth-generation lei maker,
and I was raised in Hawaii till I was 6.
My mom and my Hawaiian side of the family
just made sure I was immersed in the Hawaiian culture,
and from a young age I was making lei, and,
like all cultures,
flowers are symbolic
of purity and celebration.
You don't go anywhere without giving a lei,
without giving someone a part of you.
You're giving a part of yourself.
Traditionally, Hawaiian leis are
woven with love and aloha,
and the method used is just as important
as the flower that's used.
The ideal clipping is just something that's beautiful,
that's not bruised or damaged
and that's not dried out yet.
There's a few dried-out pieces here,
probably from the wind and the cold
that we've been having in LA.
Mikala Jones-Fielder: It's, like, very relaxing, too,
just finding the flowers.
Leilani Kanaauao Huggins: I call it flower therapy.
Jones-Fielder: Flower therapy, I like it.
Kanaauao Huggins: We sort of clip it closer to the branch
so it promotes growth in that we'll clean up these branches
when we get back to house.
Jones-Fielder: So I picked this flower
because I'm learning from Leilani
that you wanna cut from the stem
and then we can do most of the work later,
but I thought this just looked really pretty.
Kanaauao Huggins: I think most people will think of
that beautiful purple dendrobium orchid leis as Hawaiian,
but those are made and usually come from Thailand.
Right now, there is a fungus
that is ravaging the Big Island and Hawaii.
It's called rapid ohia death,
and it's basically the Metrosideros polymorpha plant.
They're everywhere here in Los Angeles.
In Hawaii, they're treasured.
It is nice to have those
because in Hawaii they're not using them right now.
Just real small lengths.
We're gonna cut them down right here, you can see.
I'm gonna reach under you.
This is gonna be the 'ōpala.
So 'ōpala means trash.
Jones-Fielder: I feel like, when you're learning
how to make leis,
you are also learning a lot about the Hawaiian culture.
Kanaauao Huggins: Yeah.
Jones-Fielder: My lei po'o. Did I say it right?
Kanaauao Huggins: Yes, yes!
Jones-Fielder: Yay!
This process is very relaxing,
educational, and just fun.
It's very therapeutic.
It feels very effortless,
but knowing that I'm going to create something with love
and give it with love is just a really great feeling.
Wow, the colors are so vivid.
Kanaauao Huggins: Right, that electric purple,
it's so pretty.
Jones-Fielder: It's gonna look great on Instagram.
Person offscreen: That's the whole reason we do this.
Jones-Fielder: Instagram or it didn't happen.
Man offscreen: Did you both learn from her?
Delilah: Yes.
Mariah: Yeah, she's the master, lei master.
Kanaauao Huggins: So we're gonna take
a couple pieces of raffia,
some people use yarn,
you use kind of whatever you can get.
So, we're gonna hili,
and we're just gonna make a small slipknot towards the end.
We're gonna wind our flowers all together
to make a lei like this.
Leis symbolize love. It's yourself,
your giving of yourself, your giving of your time.
Your giving for birthdays, for celebrations,
for anniversaries, for coming and going,
you give it to show love and respect and honor.