Graduation has come and gone for some graduates — mostly the college ones — but its still around the corner for high school graduates.

I love graduations. The ceremonies, not so much. But I love it as a rite-of-passage — so full of promise and possibilities. Above is my niece, through marriage, graduating from UC Riverside last year.

Why are leis given to graduates? I’ve found a number of possible reasons online. One reason cited is that some people find the robe and mortarboard worn by graduates to be boring, so try to pretty it up with a lei. Another reason I’ve found, that seems plausible, is that lei in Hawaiian culture is given when arriving and leaving. So since a graduate is leaving college and arriving at a new phase in life — you give them a lei.

When I began giving (and wearing) lei for graduating in 2002 (that’s me above, in the middle with the twisted lei), I knew none of those reasons. I think I just knew that many people wore lei at graduation, so that year, as I prepared to graduate along with several of the editors I worked with at my school paper, I got it in my head that we should all wear lei at graduation. Made us a pretty good looking group, eh?

Here’s a closeup of my two lei, as I pose with my now-husband, Trinity. The first lei I’m wearing, the one that appears to have a thinner twist, is a Kamali’i lei. The second lei seems to be known simply as a fancy spiral orchid lei. I’d bought myself two special ones because, heheh, I was the one doing the ordering and had the idea. What?

Here is my now-husband at his graduation, wearing a single lei. I think I’d looked into getting him a maile lei that men usually wear, but I don’t know what happened to that plan. Either way, it should be noted that single lei tend to be lighter and less heat-inducing than double lei. And the most common types of lei are single or double, all pink (you could also call it purple) or all white dendrobium orchids.

Want to check out how some lei were worn at a wedding? Yeah, of course you do!