How Hawaiians Say Hello

When in Hawaii, you may see residents flashing a “shaka,” a hand gesture in which one extends the thumb and pinkie finger while curling the other fingers down. This gesture conveys warm greetings, such as hello, goodbye, and thank you, and is often associated with surfing. Now the shaka has become Hawaii’s official gesture, as lawmakers just passed a measure that recognizes the state as its birthplace. Although some criticized the legislation as a waste of time, hundreds of people testified in support of it, and the bill passed unanimously in both chambers of the state legislature before the governor signed it into law in June. “It’s a symbol of Hawaii,” Steve Sue, a Honolulu resident who made a documentary about the shaka’s origins, told The Washington Post. “And we can share a lot of aloha around the world just by bringing what the shaka means to light, the values that are imbued [in] that symbol, and the cultural and historic meanings that have been layered onto it.”