Monday, March 10, 2008

The Liberian Handshake

An example of the Liberian handshake. This is used whenever greeting or meeting people. Mostly a simple handshake and the snapping of fingers is what I use.

1 - grasp the hand of your counterpart:

2 - slide into a thumb-to-thumb grip:

3 - pull back to clutch the finger tips of your counterpart:

4 - release with a loud snap of the middle fingers:

Note that the handshake can be abbreviated by jumping straight from the quick hand shake to the snap.

4 comments:

arachesostufo said...

nice photo. ciao

Laura and Ryan said...

Hmmm. Is that actually what everyone does there? I learned that at Keats... Very cool shots. Did you take those? Is that your hand?

Michal said...

Yes, you always snap your finger with someone elses as you shake your hand...strangers, friends, children.
It seems many of the African handshakes have been adopted in a "cool" way in the West. Interesting.

Aclevergirl said...

Six years ago on my first trip to Ghana, West Africa, my husbands homeland, everyone used this handshake. It was a basic handshake like we use in the States, but it ended with a finger snap using the combined fingers of the two people doing the greeting. I first thought it was only practiced by the younger, or maybe males of the tribe or country like my husband. When we met my husband's 75 year old Aunt, that was when my idea changed. She was living in a very remote Village & greeted him with this handshake that ended in a dual finger snap. If was very surprising. Aclevergirl