More than just a friendly gesture


Keli’inowelo Makainai-Matsuda, great-great-great-granddaughter of Hamana Kalili who is known as the father of shaka, flashing a shaka in Kaneohe, Hawaii. — AP

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.

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