Nature is forever arriving and forever departing, forever approaching, forever vanishing; but in her vanishings there seems to be ever the waving of a hand, in all her partings a promise of meetings farther long the road. Richard Le Gallienne, British author.
On the first day of our recent trip, four different people waved at us with four decidedly different messages in the gesture. The sheer number made me question how many meanings can be seen in a simple waving of the hand.
First, we passed a school crossing guard who stopped us with an outstretched arm. After she had directed traffic from the school drive, she motioned us on our way with a strong, authoritative wave. We drove on.
Not far down the road, a flagman halted us with a “stop” sign while road crews worked. When it came time for us to move forward, he motioned us onward with a cautionary wave and a “slow” sign.
Later in the morning we saw a redheaded lady rescue a turtle. Hers was a wave of thanks for waiting on her.
And in the evening, the cyclists passing the B&B where we were staying, waved a friendly hello. We waved back acknowledging their silent greeting.
So when do we wave?
Of course, we wave to say “hello” and “goodbye.” It’s amazing that one gesture can do both. If you remember, the children in The Sound of Music wave as the sing their goodbyes - “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye…”
St. Simons artist Mandy Thompson says, “I grew up in Tattnall County…You wave at everybody because you know they know your mama even if you don’t know who they are. If you don’t, you’re going to have a talking to about it.”
We also wave to attract attention with a server in a restaurant. We want “more” of something or we want our check. We wave to notify a taxi driver that we want to ride. Hollywood has turned this wave into an art form. And while we high school teachers rarely see this wave, elementary teachers frequently are greeted by vigorous waves from students who want to answer the question at hand.
Often a wave signals to a friend, “I’m over here.” Then we have the choice to make our way through the crowd or across a wide open space or not. Usually, we move toward the wave.
A modern usage showed up when coworkers used the wave as a sign to end a zoom call. Imagine a gesture as old as the Stone Age becoming part of 21st technology.
Some date the wave back to medieval times whenever a knight approached. He lifted the covering of armor to reveal his face and held up an open hand to show that he wasn’t carrying a weapon.
However, Dr. Stephen E. Nash, a historian of science and an archaeologist at the Denver museum of Nature and Science and author of numerous books, reports for SAPIENS, that a recent study of cave art in Western Europe shows hands in varying ways. The study also surprised many when it revealed that many of the hand prints belonged to women, not men.
Nash writes, “Were they the artists’ signatures? Were they meant to be timeless greetings to future viewers?…We simply don’t know, and probably never will.”
Assistant Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, Dr. Ellen Campana, writing for Scientific American, adds that gesturing helps us think. She primarily focuses on gesturing while speaking, formally or informally. The movement helps speakers formulate what they want to say and how to say it and listeners to pay closer attention. But even the simple act of waving stimulates the brain. The next time we wave, let us be conscious of the thoughts that rush through our mind.
Psychologists add a footnote to a simple act of waving. It makes the person waved at feel seen. And in this day when so many technological advances eliminate the human touch, it feels good to know we’ve been noticed.