When the Nazi party of Germany adopted the Roman salute from the Italian fascists, President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt instituted the hand over the heart as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in the United States. This was done when Congress officially adopted the Flag Code on 22 June 1942.
Because of its associations with Fascism, the Roman salute is now rarely used.
The raised clenched fist was popularized by the Communist Party, and in some locations it maintains that association. In the United States, the raised fist was associated with the Black Power movement which does have some historical ties to Communism and the Communist Party USA.
In many Asian cultures, a simple bow from the waist (rei in Japanese, panbae in Korean) is used, with many regional variations seen. The Japanese keep the palms of their hands touching the fronts of the thighs, but Korean men leave their hands straight down at their sides, while Korean women usually place their hands in their lap while bowing. A gesture called a wai is used in Thailand, where the hands are placed together palm to palm, approximately at nose level, while bowing. The wai is similar in form to the gesture referred to by the Japanese term gassho by Buddhists. The bow is not found in Chinese societies in daily life, and a slight bow is used only in paying respects to the dead.
In India, it is common to see the greeting ("Namaste") where the two hands (palms) are pressed together and held near the heart with the head gently bowed as one says, "Namaste." or "Namaskara" (or variations of the same, such as the Tamil "Vanakkam").
The Arabic term Salaam, literally "peace" from the spoken greeting that accompanies the gesture, refers to a low bow performed while placing the right palm on the forehead. Some cultures use hugs and kisses even between two men, but those gestures show an existing degree of intimacy and are not used between total strangers. All of these gestures are being supplemented or completely displaced by the handshake in areas with large amounts of business contact with the West.
These bows indicate respect and acknowledgment of social rank, but do not necessarily imply obeisance.
After his conquest of Persia, Alexander the Great introduced Persian etiquette into his own court, including the practice of proskynesis. Visitors, depending on their ranks, would have to prostrate themselves, bow to, kneel in front of, or kiss the king. His Greek and Macedonian subjects objected to this practice, as they considered these rituals only suitable to the gods.
In countries with recognized social classes, bowing to nobility and royalty is customary. Standing bows of obeisance all involve bending forward from the waist with the eyes downcast, though variations in the placement of the arms and feet are seen. In western European cultures, women do not bow, they "curtsey" (a contraction of "courtesy" that became its own word), a movement in which one foot is moved back and the entire body lowered to a crouch while the head is bowed.
[image] More elaborate gestures of obeisance are used in formal conditions. The Chinese language term 叩頭 (literally "bump head", spelled ke4 tou3 in Pinyin and "Kowtow" in English) refers to the act of deep respect shown by bowing so low as to touch the head to the ground. The full kowtow begins kneeling and sitting back on the heels, with the hands on the thighs. The hands are then brought forward to the floor in front of the knees and the body inclined toward the horizontal. Whether or not the head is bowed as well reflects the degree of submission shown - in martial arts practices, for example, the neck is kept straight, but in religious ceremonies the forehead touches the ground. A slightly abbreviated version was developed for use outside and by armed guardsmen, who would flip their long sleeves down to cover their hands, drop to their left knees, place their right hands behind their backs and left palms on the floor in front of them while bowing their heads.
Many religious believers kneel in Prayer, and some (Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and, rarely, Anglicans) genuflect, bending one knee to touch the ground, at various points during religious services. During Islamic Prayer, a kneeling bow called sajdah is used, with forehead, nose, hands, knees, and toes all touching the ground.
In the U.S. Navy and each of the British Armed Forces, hand salutes are only given when a 'cover' (hat) is worn, while the U.S. Army gives salutes both covered and uncovered. [image]
When the presence of enemy snipers is suspected, military salutes are generally forbidden, since the enemy may use them to recognize officers as valuable targets.
The origin of this salute is unknown. One theory is that it came from Roman soldiers' shading their eyes from the intense light that was supposed to shine from the eyes of their superiors (see Emission theory (vision)). Another theory is that it came from when men-at-arms wore armor--a friendly approach would include holding the reins of the horse with the left hand while raising the visor of the helmet with the right, so that one could be recognised. A third theory is that the salute, and the Handshake, came from a way of showing that the right hand (the fighting hand) was not concealing a weapon. The most widely accepted theory is that it evolved from the practice of men raising their hats in the presence of officers. Tipping one's hat on meeting a social superior was the normal civilian sign of respect at the time . Repeated hat-raising was impractical if heavy helmets were worn, so the gesture was stylised to a mere hand movement. The naval salute, with the palm downwards, is said to have originated because the palms of naval ratings, particularly deckhands, were often dirty through working with lines. Because it would be insulting to present a dirty palm to an officer, the palm was turned downwards.
The Roman salute is the oldest known hand salute. It consists of holding the right arm straight out from the shoulder, elevated about forty-five degrees. It was widely used throughout the world until World War II. In the United States, civilians gave the Bellamy salute, based on the Roman gesture, while reciting Francis Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance. It wasn't until 1942 that the U.S. Congress abolished the extended-arm salute in favor of the current hand-over-the-heart gesture. That decision was in reaction to events in Europe; Benito Mussolini and the Fascist Party of Italy, seeking to revive the spirit of the Roman Empire, had adopted the Roman salute in the early 1920s. Adolf Hitler copied it, and it developed such a close association with Nazis that it has rarely been used by any organization not specifically linking itself to the Nazis since then. One exception to this involves swearing in ceremonies in the Republic of China (Taiwan) where a Roman-like salute is used while an oath of office is taken, although the person making the salute is usually reading an oath of office held in the left hand while making the salute.
Many secret societies develop gestures to signal fellow members. In 1830s Missouri, some Mormons formed a militia organization called the Sons of Dan, more commonly known as the Danite band, which developed a salute "whereby ye may know each other anywhere, either by day or night, and if a brother be in distress. It is thus: to clap the right hand to the thigh, and then raise it quick to the right temple, the thumb extending behind the ear."
A common Kung fu salute involves making one hand into a fist and covering it with the other hand. There are considerable differences between different traditions as to which hand is made into a fist, and what the salute symbolizes, although it has been noted that unlike a handshake or an elaborate Western-style salute, the kung fu salute does not compromise one's immediate ability to defend one's self. In fact, it is often, perhaps primarily used to salute an opponent prior to sparring.
When armed with a rifle, two different levels of formality are available when saluting. The most formal method is called "present arms"; the rifle is brought to the vertical, muzzle up, in front of center of the chest with the trigger away from the body. The hands hold the stock close to the positions they would have if the rifle were being fired, though the trigger is not touched. Less formal salutes include the "order arms salute" and the "shoulder arms salutes." These are most often given by a sentry to a low-ranking superior who does not rate the full "present arms" salute. In the "order arms salute," the rifle rests on its butt by the sentry's right foot, held near the muzzle by the sentry's right hand, and does not move. The sentry brings his flattened left hand across his body and touches the rifle near its muzzle. When the rifle is being carried on the shoulder, a similar gesture is used in which the flattened free hand is brought across the body to touch the rifle near the rear of the receiver.
As naval customs evolved, the 21-gun salute came to be reserved for heads of states, and a lesser numbers of guns or gunshots were used to salute lower ranking officials.
A casual salute by an aircraft, somewhat akin to waving to a friend, is the custom of "waggling" the wings by partially rolling the aircraft first to one side, and then the other.
It is a widely-believed myth that in the United States military all personnel are required to initiate a salute to a Medal of Honor recipient, regardless of rank. Nothing in United States military regulations relates specifically to the Medal of Honor except for its order of precedence on the uniform. Custom, however, does dictate that a general should salute a private if the private has the Medal of Honor. In the United Kingdom, a similar fiction attaches to holders of the Victoria Cross.
In the Television series The Prisoner, inhabitants of The Village make a significant gesture of farewell: each forms a ring of right thumb and index finger while extending the other three fingers and looks through that ring with the right eye. He then lowers his hand toward his companion as if handing him something, while saying "be seeing you." This gesture takes its significance from the surveillance ubiquitous in The Village.
On the science-fiction series Babylon 5, a telepathic character uses the Prisoner salute -- except he brings the ring up to his forehead instead of his eye.
On the British comedy series Red Dwarf, crewman Arnold Rimmer invents several elaborate salutes in an unsuccessful attempt to impress his senior officers. These include the "Triple Rimmer" (like the US military salute, except the hand is held up and rotated at the wrist three times before bringing it to the brow), the "Full Rimmer" (five rotations), and the "Two-Handed Rimmer" (for formal occasions; performing a Full Rimmer with each hand simultaneously).
In Star Trek, the Vulcans salute by showing their right palms and spreading their middle finger and ring finger apart, while keeping their middle and index and their little and ring fingers together. Leonard Nimoy based this salute on a Jewish gesture in which the hand approximates the shape of the Hebrew letter shin, the first letter in Shaddai, a name for the Almighty.
In Futurama, Zapp Brannigan salutes by raising his right hand clenched in a fist face down up to his heart, then extended face down up to his right eyebrow (as in a United States military salute), then extending the arm in a horizontal arc, as if flying away. All three parts are performed in one continuous motion.
In Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, the soldiers of the Hosts of Minas Tirith in Gondor salute by holding their right hand in a fist over their heart with the enclosed palm facing inwards. This is often accompanied by a half bow or a tip of the head forward, when possible.