Kamehameha Day honors King Kamehameha the Great (aka Pai’ea aka Kamehameha 1) who unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1810. This state holiday is celebrated annually on June 11th, and this year it falls on #AlohaFriday.⁣ Pai’eaʻs grandson, Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa), instituted the first Kamehameha Day with a royal decree on June 11, 1872. This first celebration included carnivals, fairs, and races—both by horse and foot. In 1959, when Hawai’i became the 50th U.S. State, Kamehameha Day was one of the first holidays to be adopted.⁣ ⁣ Kamehameha the Great was destined to unite the Hawaiian Islands since birth by an ancient prophecy that spoke of a light in the sky with feathers like a bird which would be the sign that a great chief was born. Historians believe that Pai’ea was born in 1758 when Halleyʻs Comet passed over the Hawaiian Islands. Kamehameha grew to become a great warrior and leader who used Western technology to gain strategic advantages over his opponents on the battlefield. We...