Emojion๐ raising hands
Meaning
Used to express joy, victory, or pure hype โ covers everything from party cheers to spiritual praise.
Keywords: celebration, gesture, hand, hands, hooray, praise, raised, raising
This emoji supports skin tone variations.
๐ How it's used where you are
United States
In Black American digital spaces, it's widely used as 'praise hands' rooted in gospel worship tradition โ skin tone modifiers are commonly applied.
๐ก Did you know?
When added to Unicode 6.0 in 2010, its official name was 'Person Raising Both Hands in Celebration' โ the Japanese banzai gesture was the original inspiration. It was renamed 'Raising Hands' with Emoji 1.0 in 2015.
๐ก Did you know?
The sender meant 'hooray!' but the receiver read it as spiritual praise hands. This emoji shifts meaning more than most depending on cultural background.
Articles featuring this emoji
How it's used around the world
Japan
In Japan this is the 'banzai' emoji, strongly linked to the traditional three-cheer victory shout at elections, sports wins, and New Year celebrations.
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