Hawaii
The ‘shaka’ may become Hawaii’s official gesture. It has a friendly history
KANEOHE, Hawaii — A pinky and thumb extended with the remaining fingers curled down: That’s the “shaka” in Hawaii.
The gesture is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture, but it was a fixture of daily life in the islands long before it caught on in California, Brazil and beyond. People in Hawaii have a variety of shaka styles and use it to convey a range of warmhearted sentiments, from hi and bye to thanks and aloha, among other meanings.
When captains of the Lahainaluna High School football team, from the Maui community devastated by last summer’s deadly wildfire, were invited to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas last month, they flashed shakas for the cameras.
Now, a pair of bills in the state Legislature would make the shaka the state’s official gesture and recognize Hawaii as its birthplace.
Sen. Glenn Wakai, who introduced the Senate version, said he can’t imagine the measure meeting any opposition and expects it to “sail through.”
Here are some things to know about Hawaii’s shaka — including its purported origin with a seven-fingered fisherman.
What is the shaka?
On paper, the House bill notes that the “shaka generally consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while holding the three middle fingers curled, and gesturing in salutation while presenting the front or back of the hand; the wrist may be rotated back and forth for emphasis.”
In practice, the shaka is far more nuanced.
Some say the only requirement is an extended pinky and thumb. Others say shaking the shaka is a no-no.
Those from beach or rural communities tend not to shake their shakas. But in the capital city of Honolulu, it’s common.
“It’s just a strong movement — one movement,” said Chase Lee, who grew up just outside Honolulu. He was taught never to shake the shaka. If you do, “you’re a tourist,” he said.
But Erin Issa, one of his colleagues at Central Pacific Bank, likes to wag hers.
“I’m a very animated person,” she said. “I feel awkward if I’m just standing still.”
She prefers to flash a shaka with the palm facing outwards, as a sign of respect: “It’s shaka-ing to you, not to me.”
“As long as you get your pinky finger and your thumb out, you can wave it or you can just do just a flat shaka,” Dennis Caballes, a Honolulu resident, said while fishing at a beach park.
What does it mean?
The shaka carries friendliness and warmth — aloha spirit. Some hold it low when greeting a child, and some like to flash double shakas. It can convey greetings, gratitude or assent, or it can defuse tension. It was particularly useful in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were afraid to shake hands.
“It’s such a versatile gesture,” said state Rep. Sean Quinlan, who introduced the House bill at the behest of a documentary filmmaker exploring the sign’s backstory.
Big Island state Rep. Jeanné Kapela, one of the House bill’s co-sponsors, said residents are “so lucky to have a visual signal for sharing aloha with each other.”
Shakas can avert altercations when people are cut off in traffic, said Wakai, the state senator who introduced the Senate version.
“The angst toward that driver kind of just immediately gets reduced,” Wakai said.
Where does the shaka come from?
The prevailing story of the shaka’s origin traces back to a Native Hawaiian fisherman named Hāmana Kalili, who lived on Oahu’s North Shore in the early 1900s. Mailani Makaʻīnaʻi, Kalili’s great-great-granddaughter, wants the bills amended to include his name — something lawmakers are considering.
Kalili lost three fingers in a sugar mill accident, she said.
After the mishap, Kalili worked as a guard on a train. Kids who jumped the train for a free ride would curl their middle fingers to mimic Kalili’s injured hand, giving other train-jumpers the all-clear, said Steve Sue, who researched shaka for his documentary.
Other residents adopted Kalili’s three-finger-less wave more broadly, according to family lore, and it spread, possibly fueled by the waves of tourists that began arriving after World War II.
“I love the compassion part of it, you know, where, ‘Oh, okay, he doesn’t have all three fingers. So, I’m going to say hi the way he’s saying hi,’” Makaʻīnai said. “It’s the idea that … I’m like you and you’re like me.”
There’s a bronze statue of Kalili, his right arm extended into a shaka, at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.
There are various theories about how the term “shaka” became associated with the gesture. Some have suggested that the name came from Japan’s Shaka Buddha.
How is the shaka used now?
The sign has spread around the world since the surfing boom of the 1950s and ’60s. It’s popular in Brazil, where it’s been used by martial arts aficionados. Brazil soccer greats Ronaldinho and Neymar Jr. incorporated it into their goal celebrations.
The shaka is such an integral part of Hawaii life that it’s easy to miss, said Sen. Chris Lee, chair of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts.
Some Honolulu city buses are outfitted with a digital shaka light that bus drivers can turn on to thank motorists for letting them merge. Texters have co-opted the “call me” emoji to symbolize the shaka, and local station KHON-TV has ended each evening newscast since the 1970s with clips of people flashing shakas.
Longtime KHON anchor Howard Dashefsky said throwing a shaka is almost a reflex when people in the community recognize him and call his name.
“There’s a lot of other places where you only get a one-finger gesture,” he said.
Shakas also come out naturally when people from Hawaii are somewhere else in the world and want to display connection to their island roots.
Businesses often use the shaka to project community belonging.
Central Pacific Bank, for example, called their digital checking account Shaka Checking at the suggestion of electronic banking manager Florence Nakamura.
“It makes people feel good when they receive one,” she said.
The 51st episode of lava fountaining in Halemaumau at the summit of Kilauea volcano began at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
In its 10:30 a.m. Volcano Update, HVO stated that the fountains were reaching heights of about 950 feet above ground level from the north vent. No flows or lava fountaining are erupting from the south vent. Effusion rates reached a peak of 400 cubic yards per second.
All lava flows are confined to the Halemaumau crater within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Sensors indicated that winds are blowing at 5-10 mph from the east-northeast direction. HVO notes that this suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed in the west-southwest direction from Halemaumau. This means that it’s possible that wind may carry tephra toward the Kau District, including the communities of Pahala and Naalehu, as well as onto Highway 11 southwest of Volcano. Tephra fall is greatest within three miles of the vents, and lighter ash and Pele’s Hair may stay suspended for large distances from the vents.
As of HVO’s 10:30 a.m. update, very light fall of Pele’s Hair was reported from the Kau Desert trailhead along Highway 11. There were no reports of tephra falling in Pahala or anywhere outside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The National Weather Service issued a Special Weather Statement regarding the potential impacts from Episode 51’s wind-blown tephra. NWS reported that the plume from this eruption is reaching 18,000 feet above sea level and the low-level winds from the east-northeast would move the plume southwest, towards Pahala. High-level winds from the south would move the higher plume over communities adjacent to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
This story will be udpated.
Mechanical problems with a water treatment plant in Hawaii have left thousands of soldiers without central air conditioning in the barracks, a spokesman for U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii confirmed Tuesday in a statement to Military Times.
Four thousand soldiers in Area North Barracks are opening windows, turning on fans or using other tools to beat the heat while the base grapples with pump issues.
On July 10, deep-well pumps supporting Army installations in central and northern Oahu started experiencing problems.
According to the garrison, only one pump is currently pushing water to the surface. To maintain essential water services, water chiller systems have been turned off. Without the chiller systems — which make up almost 40% of the daily water use — the barracks do not receive central air conditioning. The incident was initially reported by Task & Purpose.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures for the remainder of the week range from the mid-70s to the upper-80s.
Units are able to move troops to MWR facilities with central air conditioning, according to the service, but as of Sunday, no units had done so.
Repairs are underway, but an exact timeline for when the pumps will be fully functional again was not provided.
The cause of the issues has not been definitively identified, however “age and extreme heat due to ventilation system repairs are believed to be part of the cause,” said Nathan Wilkes, the garrison’s external communications chief.
The installation is prioritizing keeping safe drinking water available.
Barracks and residential housing have access to drinkable water, and plumbing and sanitation systems are operational. Wilkes also said the installation has paused irrigation systems pulling from Area North water supply.
Family housing still has air conditioning and water access, Wilkes added.
The garrison’s commander, Col. Rachel Sullivan, was scheduled to host a town hall on the installation’s Facebook page on Tuesday.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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