The shaka is poised to become Hawaii’s official hand gesture.
Last week, Hawaiian lawmakers passed a bill that would officially enshrine the gesture in the state’s culture. The shaka, also popular in surf culture and commonly known as “hang loose” is a friendly hand signal made by extending the thumb and little finger while curling the three middle fingers.
“While multiple origin theories exist, all theories have the shaka developing within the state,” the bill states.
“More importantly, while multiple Hawaii ethnic cultures and resident groups have contributed varying layers of meaning to the shaka, there is a shared agreement in the shaka’s positive sentiments and usage toward sharing aloha, fostering connection, and being pono,” or righteous and balanced, the bill adds.
It goes on to describe shaka as a “key brand symbol for the state, offering influential power to build the state’s economy, global brand and resident pride”, adding, “As the shaka is now used around the world, this act ensures that Hawaii retains recognition as the birthplace of the shaka.”
In February, Steve Sue, a film-maker who documented the roots of the hand gesture in a 2023 documentary, testified at a state house meeting on the bill.
“If California lays claim to it first because they’re hanging loose, easygoing. Not good for us, right? Not good for the meaning of the shaka, not good for the aloha meaning of it. Texas might use it as the Longhorns. I know in Utah, BYU [Brigham Young University] uses that for the “Y,” Sue said.
In Hawaii, the origins of the shaka can be traced back to the early 1900s when Hamana Kalili, a worker at Hawaii’s Kahuku sugar mill, got his right fingers caught in a sugar cane presser.
Following the incident, Kalili was transferred to work as a security guard for a train that ran between Oahu’s Sunset Beach and Kaaawa. As Kalili yelled and gestured at kids to prevent them from sneaking joyrides on the train, he would raise his right hand at them. The kids soon adopted his gesture and would signal to each other whenever Kalili was not around that they were free to jump on the train.
The gesture eventually became popular among other residents and spread across the world over the years. In addition to being featured in movies, the shaka gesture has been widely used by former presidents including Barack Obama, as well as athletes such as the Brazilian football player Neymar.
Speaking to the Associated Press earlier this year, Mailani Makaʻīnaʻi, Kalili’s great-great-granddaughter, said, “I love the compassion part of it, you know, where, ‘Oh, OK, he doesn’t have all three fingers so I’m going to say hi the way he’s saying hi … It’s the idea that … I’m like you and you’re like me.”
According to the office of Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, Green supports the bill and is expected to sign it into law, “presuming there are no flaws or issues”, the Washington Post reports.
