McKenna Kanekoa’s parents told her that her family was distantly related to the man who may have inspired the shaka.
“It made me laugh to think that I’m somehow related to the shaka, even though (Hamana Kalili) only did it because he was missing his (three middle) fingers,” said Kanekoa, a UH Mānoa student who attended a recent campus screening of a documentary about the renowned gesture.
In February, UH Mānoa brought Alex Bocchieri, an alum, and Steve Sue to show their documentary film, “Shaka: Aloha Story,” and educate students and faculty of the origin and history of the shaka. The event caught the attention of dozens of people.
The exact origin of the shaka is debatable. Some say that it originated from Halili in the early 1900s, and others say it came from a salesman. It was a gesture for years before it received a name.
Master’s student Puuwaialoha Keoanui attended the event for one of her classes and to learn the history of her culture.
“I grew up here and never knew where the shaka came from, only that I just do it when I’m excited or happy,” Keoanui said.
The history that the director and writer found shocked Keoanui, who thought the story was fictional. Stories are told from generation to generation in Hawaiian culture and she thought the history was a legend because there was no proof. The shaka is part of Hawaiian history that is studied in the documentary.
One Auntie Kela Miller told Bocchieri and Sue that Kalili worked at a sugarcane factory where injuries were common. It is commonly thought that he lost his fingers that way. Before Kalili died he also told people that he lost them to a shark.
“I think he would not be like, sorry about not answering us forthrightly, but I think he would be happy to see you sitting here today watching his life,” Bocchieri said.
The accounts of the shaka being seen began after Kalili was waving his hand, causing people to mimic the gesture.
The shaka has been used for decades, spreading from Hawai’i to the mainland, even to other countries to bring people together.
Sue is from the mainland and has been experiencing Hawai’i as someone who doesn’t know the culture. He began to explore Hawaiian culture with his study of the shaka and how it doesn’t belong to just one person but to everyone.
“So to understand how woven, how much of an internet web, this place is, and how connected people are is pretty insane and it is the same way today,” Sue said.
