“Hang loose,” “Right on,” “Thank you,” “Things are great,” “take it easy.,” “Chill”—in Hawaii, also known as the “Shaka sign,” expresses all those friendly messages and more. As the story goes, the gesture traces its origin back to the early 1900s, when Hamana Khalili worked at the Kahuku Sugar Mill, where working conditions on the plantations weren’t that great.
His job as a pressor was to feed cane through the rollers to squeeze out its juice. Once day, Kalili’s right hand got caught in the rollers, and his middle, index and ring fingers were crushed. After the accident, the plantation owners gave him a new job as the security officer for the train that used to run between Sunset Beach and Kaaawa State Beach. Part of his job was to prevent kids from jumping on the train and taking joyrides as it slowly approached and departed Kahuku Station. If Kalili saw mischievous kids trying to get on the train, he would yell and wave his hand to stop them. Of course that looked a bit strange since he had only two fingers on his right hand. The kids adopted the gesture; it became their signal to indicate Kalili was not around or not looking, and the coast was clear of them to jump on the train.
In Hawaii, everyone from keiki (child or youngster) to kipuna (grandparent, ancestor, honored elder or keeper of ancestral knowledge uses the Shaka to express friendship, gratitude, goodwill, encouragement and unity. A little wave of the hand spreads a lot of aloha.
