The Bishop Museum held a contest in 1990 in order to come up with a name for this unique phenomenon and the winning name was Lāhiniā Noon. Since the word Lāhainā can be translated to English as ‘cruel sun’ it seems a fitting name.

Also called zero shadow day, the sun’s rays fall directly on an object and therefore do not cast a shadow. The site where this occurs is known as earth’s subsolar point. This point moves through the tropics and the time varies depending on location within the islands.

The ancient Hawaiian name for this phenomenon is Kau ka lā i ka lolo, a hoʻi ke aka i ke kino which means ‘rests the strong sun on the brain, and retreats the shadow into the body’. There is even a sculpture in Honolulu that was built with this event in mind. The curvy features of the Sky Gate sculpture on the lawn beside the Frank Fasi Municipal Building creates a perfect circle on the concrete base during the Lāhainā Noon.