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A reader recently inquired to the origins of the left handshake as a greeting for Scouts. After researching the question the short answer is that, while no one can really determine who first started the tradition, the left handshake is a tradition older than Scouting.
Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting) may have adopted the left handshake from author, illustrator and co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America Earnest Thompson- Seton’s early pre-Boy Scouts of America writings. B-P and Seton had a long, simmering argument about the origins of Scouting that lasted for years with charges and counter-charges of plagiarism. This early history is related in David Scott and Brendan Murphy’s book The Scouting Party.
The Left handshake has two basic traditions:
1. The left hand is closest to the heart and so indicates the warmth and depth of friendship between all Scouts.
2. In order to shake with the left hand a warrior must lay aside his shield, so it is an expression of trust and respect for bravery. This is said to have originated with B-P during his years as an army officer in Africa when this was told to him by an Ashanti chief.
The current edition of the Scout Handbook says:
Scout Handshake
Extend your left hand to another Scout and firmly grasp his left hand. Made with
the hand nearest your heart, the Scout handshake signifies friendship.
I keep with the explanation offered in the handbook; the origins are kind of sketchy and there’s no ‘right’ one.
In his book, The Left Handshake, Hilary St. George Saunders recounts the history of the Boy Scout Movement during the Second World War. 1939-1945. The book is available in PDF format.
The left hand handshake is mentioned in the Baden-Powell autobiography.
Here is the explanation from the glossary at Scouts UK.
Left handshake – A special handshake used by most scouts across the world as an act of friendship. This goes back to when Baden-Powell was a soldier in Africa. He saw a large number of tribal chiefs who carried spears and shields and noticed that it was a sign of great trust to offer your left hand when shaking hands. This was because you had to put down your shield and yet leave the other person holding a spear.
http://scouts.org.uk/cms.php?pageid=119#sg_l
I understand the interlocking finger handshake is because the hands then resemble the scout salute. I don’t know when it became popular or when it fell out of use.
Shields in the Zulu (and I suspect, the Ashanti) tradition are important symbols of rank and status, as well as defensive weapons. Laying the shield aside in this context speaks about more than it would signify in the Western tradition.
The second explanation is exactly contrary to the universal European tradition (which, as the comment says, Baden-Powell would have well-known from his time in service). The military salute and later the handshake is exclusively performed with the right hand because it shows that your weapon hand is empty. An empty weapon hand is a far more significant demonstration of friendship and bravery than an empty shield hand, even before noting that everyone carried a weapon but only some carried a shield.
A salute with the left hand is considered a sign of deliberate disrespect.
By the way, the modern salute (hand to eyebrow or hat brim) traces to the invention of closed helmets in the late middle ages and is based on the need to raise one’s visor to show your face. Prior to that time, the dominant salute was the Roman style (hand to heart then out).
Good information. Does anyone know more about the old handshake done with interlocking pinky fingers and why it was simplified to a plain left-handed shake? My old 7th edition (1965) handbook that I got in 1971 shows this handshake, but I think it disappeared in 1972. I always like it because it really was different from a normal handshake.