[HIGHLIGHTS] Hawaii: “Shaka” or “Hang Loose” – island chain wants to have greeting gesture protected

Hawaii: “Shaka” or “Hang Loose” – island chain wants to have greeting gesture protected. Two bills aim to make the Shaka the official gesture of the US state and recognize Hawaii as its birthplace.

According to tradition, the greeting goes back to the Hawaiian fisherman Hāmana Kalili in the early 1900s. The Shaka really became known outside of Hawaii in the surfing spots of the world. Since the surfing boom of the fifties and sixties the greeting has spread worldwide and is particularly popular in Brazil.