A
kiss is the act of pressing one's lips against the lips or
other body parts of another person or of an object. Cultural
connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and
context, a kiss can express sentiments of
love,
passion,
affection,
respect,
greeting,
friendship
and good luck, among many others. In some situations a kiss is a
ritual, formal or symbolic gesture indicating devotion, respect or
greeting, as in the case of spouses kissing at the conclusion of a
wedding ceremony or national leaders kissing each other in greeting, and
in many other situations.
Depending on the culture, relationship and context, a person may kiss
another on their lips, cheek, head, hand and each of these gestures may
carry a different social significance.
The word KISS came from
Old English cyssan (“to kiss”), in turn from
coss (“a kiss”).
Expression of affection and love
Kissing on another person's lips has become a common expression of
affection among many cultures worldwide. Yet in certain cultures,
kissing was introduced only through European settlement; prior to this,
kissing was not a routine occurrence. Examples of this include certain
indigenous peoples of Australia, the Tahitians, and many tribes in
Africa.
[1]
Kissing on the lips is a physical expression of affection or love
between two people, in which the sensations of touch, taste, and smell
are involved.
[2]
According to psychologist Menachem Brayer, although many "mammals,
birds, and insects exchange caresses" which appear to be kisses of
affection (e.g.
lovebirds),
they are not kisses as humans consider them. Psychologist William Cane
notes that kissing in Western society is most often a romantic act and
describes a few of its attributes:
It's not hard to tell when two people are in love. Maybe they're
trying to hide it from the world, still they cannot conceal their inner
excitement. Men will give themselves away by a certain excited trembling
in the muscles of the lower jaw upon seeing their beloved. Women will
often turn pale immediately of seeing their lover and then get slightly
red in the face as their sweetheart draws near. ... This is the effect
of physical closeness upon two people who are in love.[3]:9
Kissing in Western cultures is a fairly recent development and is
rarely mentioned even in Greek literature. In the Middle Ages it became a
social gesture and was considered a sign of refinement of the upper
classes.
[2]:150–151 Other cultures have different definitions and uses of kissing, notes Brayer. In
China,
for example, a similar expression of affection consists of rubbing
one's nose against the cheek of another person. In other Eastern
cultures kissing is not commonly done. In South East Asian countries the
"sniff kiss" is the most common form of affection and Western
mouth to mouth kissing is reserved for sexual foreplay. In some tribal cultures the "equivalent for our 'kiss me' is 'smell me.
'"
History
The origins of the kiss were studied in the early 20th century by
natural historian Ernest Crawley. He wrote that kissing was "a universal
expression in the social life of the higher civilizations of the
feelings of affection, love (sexual, parental, and filial), and
veneration." According to Crawley, touch is "the mother of the senses,"
and the kiss was a tactile and specialized form of intimate contact.
[4]:113
However, he notes that the act of kissing was very rare among the
"lower and semi-civilized races," but was "fully established as
instinctive in the higher societies." Yet even among higher
civilizations Crawley saw differences: while the kiss seems to have been
unknown to ancient Egypt, it was well established in early Greece,
Assyria, and India.
[4]:113
The kiss of lovers, according to 19th-century anthropologist
Cesare Lombroso, originated and evolved from the maternal kiss.
[5]
Crawley supports this view by noting that Japanese society, before the
20th century, was "ignorant of the kiss except as applied by a mother to
her infant," while in Africa and "other uncivilized regions," it was
commonly observed that neither husbands and wives, or lovers, kissed one
another.
[4]:117
However, kissing was common among the Greeks and Romans as when parents
kissed their children, or when lovers and married persons kissed. The
kiss in Western societies was also used in various religious and
ceremonial acts, as where the kiss had a sacramental value. Crawley
concludes that generally, although kissing was prevalent in some form
since primitive times, it "received its chief development in Western
culture."
[4]:119
In modern times, scientists have done brain scans on people when a
romantic relationship progresses. Some studies found that after that
"first magical meeting or perfect first date," a complex system in the
brain is activated that is essentially "the same thing that happens when
a person takes cocaine." In studies of affection between lovers, when
participants viewed images of their partners, their brains' ventral
tegmental area, which houses the reward and motivation systems, was
flooded with
dopamine, an internal chemical that is "released when you're doing something highly pleasurable ..."
[6]
Kristoffer Nyrop has identified a number of types of kisses, such as
kisses of love, affection, peace, respect and friendship. He notes,
however, that the categories were somewhat contrived and overlapping,
and other cultures often had more kinds, including the French, with
twenty and the Germans with thirty.[7]
Sexual or romantic kiss
Lovers kissing in a park.
The kiss is an important expression of love and erotic emotions. In Kristoffer Nyrop's book,
The Kiss and its History,
Nyrop describes the kiss of love as an "exultant message of the longing
of love, love eternally young, the burning prayer of hot desire, which
is born on the lovers' lips, and 'rises,' as Charles Fuster has said,
'up to the blue sky from the green plains,' like a tender, trembling
thank-offering." He adds, that the love kiss, "rich in promise, bestows
an intoxicating feeling of infinite happiness, courage, and youth, and
therefore surpasses all other earthly joys in sublimity."
[7]:30
He also compares it to one's achievements in life, "Thus even the
highest work of art, yet, the loftiest reputation, is nothing in
comparison with the passionate kiss of a woman one loves."
[7]:31
The power of a kiss is not minimized when he writes that "we all
yearn for kisses and we all seek them; it is idle to struggle against
this passion. No one can evade the omnipotence of the kiss ..." Kissing,
he implies, can lead one to maturity: "It is through kisses that a
knowledge of life and happiness first comes to us. Runeberg says that
the angels rejoice over the first kiss exchanged by lovers," and can
keep one feeling young: "It carries life with it; it even bestows the
gift of eternal youth." The importance of the lover's kiss can also be
significant, he notes: "In the case of lovers a kiss is everything; that
is the reason why a man stakes his all for a kiss," and "man craves for
it as his noblest reward."
[7]:37
As a result, kissing as an expression of love is contained in much of
literature, old and new. Nyrop gives a vivid example in the classic
love story of
Daphnis and Chloe.
As a reward "Chloe has bestowed a kiss on Daphnis—an innocent
young-maid's kiss, but it has on him the effect of an electrical shock":
[7]:47
Ye gods, what are my feelings. Her lips are softer than the rose's
leaf, her mouth is sweet as honey, and her kiss inflicts on me more pain
than a bee's sting. I have often kissed my kids, I have often kissed my
lambs, but never have I known aught like this. My pulse is beating
fast, my heart throbs, it is as if I were about to suffocate, yet,
nevertheless, I want to have another kiss. Strange, never-suspected
pain! Has Chloe, I wonder, drunk some poisonous draught ere she kissed
me? How comes it that she herself has not died of it?
Romantic kissing "requires more than simple proximity," notes Cane.
It also needs "some degree of intimacy or privacy, ... which is why
you'll see lovers stepping to the side of a busy street or sidewalk."
[3] Psychologist
Wilhelm Reich "lashed out at society" for not giving young lovers enough privacy and making it difficult to be alone.
[3]
However, Cane describes how many lovers manage to attain romantic
privacy despite being in a public setting, as they "lock their minds
together" and thereby create an invisible sense of "psychological
privacy." He adds, "In this way they can kiss in public even in a
crowded plaza and keep it romantic."
[3]:10
Nonetheless, when Cane asked people to describe the most romantic
places they ever kissed, "their answers almost always referred to this
ends-of-the-earth isolation, ... they mentioned an apple orchard, a
beach, out in a field looking at the stars, or at a pond in a secluded
area ..."
[3]:10
Kiss of affection
Two men affectionately kissing
A kiss can also be used to express feelings without an erotic element
but can be nonetheless "far deeper and more lasting," writes Nyrop. He
adds that such kisses can be expressive of love "in the widest and most
comprehensive meaning of the word, bringing a message of loyal
affection, gratitude, compassion, sympathy, intense joy, and profound
sorrow."
[7]:79
The most common example is the "intense feeling which knits parents
to their offspring," writes Nyrop, but adds that kisses of affection are
not only common between parents and children, but also between other
members of the same family, which can include those outside the
immediate family circle, "everywhere where deep affection unites
people."
[7]:82 The tradition is written of in the Bible, as when
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and when
Moses
went to meet his father-in-law, he "did obeisance, and kissed him; and
they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent"
(Exodus 18:7); and when
Jacob had wrestled with the Lord he met
Esau, ran towards him, fell on his neck and kissed him. The family kiss was traditional with the
Romans and kisses of affection are often mentioned by the early
Greeks, as when
Odysseus, on reaching his home, meets his faithful shepherds.
[7]:82–83
Affection can be a cause of kissing "in all ages in grave and solemn
moments," notes Nyrop, "not only among those who love each other, but
also as an expression of profound gratitude. When the
Apostle Paul took leave of the elders of the congregation at
Ephesus,
"they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him" (Acts
20:37). Kisses can also be exchanged between total strangers, as when
there is a profound sympathy with or the warmest interest in, another
person.
[7]:85
Folk poetry
has been the source of affectionate kisses where they sometimes played
an important part, as when they had the power to cast off spells or to
break bonds of witchcraft and sorcery, often restoring a man to his
original shape. Nyrop notes the poetical stories of the "redeeming power
of the kiss are to be found in the literature of many countries,
especially, for example, in the Old French Arthurian romances (Lancelot,
Guiglain, Tirant le blanc) in which the princess is changed by evil
arts into a dreadful dragon, and can only resume her human shape in the
case of a knight being brave enough to kiss her." In the reverse
situation, in the tale of "
Beauty and the Beast,"
a transformed prince then told the girl that he had been bewitched by a
wicked fairy, and could not be recreated into a man unless a maid fell
in love with him and kissed him, despite his ugliness.
[7]:95–96
A kiss of affection can also take place after death. In
Genesis it is written that when
Jacob was dead, "Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him." And it is told of
Abu Bakr,
Muhammad's
first disciple, father-in-law, and successor, that, when the prophet
was dead, he went into the latter's tent, uncovered his face, and kissed
him. Nyrop writes that "the kiss is the last tender proof of love
bestowed on one we have loved, and was believed, in ancient times, to
follow mankind to the nether world."
[7]:97
Kiss as ritual
-
-
Kiss on the crucifix in Christianity
-
-
Throughout history, a kiss has been a ritual, formal, symbolic or
social gesture indicating devotion, respect or greeting. It appears as a
ritual or symbol of religious devotion. For example, in the case of
kissing a temple floor, or a religious book or icon. Besides devotion, a
kiss has also indicated subordination or, nowadays, respect.
In modern times the practice continues, as in the case of a bride and
groom kissing at the conclusion of a wedding ceremony or national
leaders kissing each other in greeting, and in many other situations.
Religion
A kiss in a religious context is common. In earlier periods of
Christianity or
Islam
kissing became a ritual gesture, and is still treated as such in
certain customs, as when "kissing the Pope's foot, relics, or a bishop's
ring."
[2] In
Judaism, the kissing of prayer books such as the
Torah, along with kissing
prayer shawls, is also common.
[9]
Crawley notes that it was "very significant of the affectionate element
in religion" to give so important a part to the kiss as part of its
ritual. In the early Church the baptized were kissed by the celebrant
after the ceremony, and its use was even extended as a salute to saints
and religious heroes, with Crawley adding, "Thus
Joseph kissed
Jacob, and his disciples kissed
Paul.
Joseph kissed his dead father, and the custom was retained in our
civilization," as the farewell kiss on dead relatives, although certain
sects prohibit this today.
[4]:126
A distinctive element in the Christian ritual was noted by
Justin in the 2nd century, now referred to as the "kiss of peace," and once part of the rite in the primitive Mass.
Conybeare has stated that this act originated within the ancient Hebrew
synagogue, and
Philo,
the ancient Jewish philosopher called it a "kiss of harmony," where, as
Crawley explains, "the Word of God brings hostile things together in
concord and the kiss of love."
[4]:128 Saint Cyril also writes, "this kiss is the sign that our souls are united, and that we banish all remembrance of injury."
[4]:128
An early reference to kissing is contained in the familiar second verse of the
Old Testament book,
Song of Solomon, an ancient Hebrew love poem:
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
For thy love is better than wine.
[10][11]:41
Kiss of peace
Nyrop notes that the
kiss of peace was used as an expression of deep, spiritual devotion in the
early Christian Church.
Christ said, for instance, "Peace be with you, my peace I give you,"
and the members of Christ's Church gave each other peace symbolically
through a kiss.
St Paul repeatedly speaks of the "holy kiss," and, in his
Epistle to the Romans, writes: "Salute one another with an holy kiss" and his first Epistle to the Thessalonians (
1 Thessalonians 5:26), he says: "Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss."
[7]:101
The kiss of peace was also used in
secular festivities. During the
Middle Ages,
for example, Nyrop points out that it was the custom to "seal the
reconciliation and pacification of enemies by a kiss." Even knights gave
each other the kiss of peace before proceeding to the combat, and
forgave one another all real or imaginary wrongs. The holy kiss was also
found in the ritual of the Church on solemn occasions, such as baptism,
marriage, confession, ordination, or obsequies. However, toward the end
of the Middle Ages the kiss of peace disappears as the official token
of reconciliation.
[7]:109
Kiss of respect
The kiss of respect is of ancient origin, notes Nyrop. He writes that
"from the remotest times we find it applied to all that is holy, noble,
and worshipful—to the gods, their statues, temples, and altars, as well
as to kings and emperors; out of reverence, people even kissed the
ground, and both sun and moon were greeted with kisses."
[7]:114
He notes some examples, as "when the prophet
Hosea laments over the idolatry of the children of
Israel,
he says that they make molten images of calves and kiss them." In
classical times similar homage was often paid to the gods, and people
were known to kiss the hands, knees, feet, and the mouths, of their
idols.
Cicero writes that the lips and beard of the famous statue of
Hercules at
Agrigentum were worn away by the kisses of devotees.
[7]:115
People kissed the Cross with the image of the Crucified, and such
kissing of the Cross is always considered a holy act. In many countries
it is required, on taking an oath, as the highest assertion that the
witness would be speaking the truth. Nyrop notes that "as a last act of
charity, the image of the Redeemer is handed to the dying or
death-condemned to be kissed." Kissing the Cross brings blessing and
happiness; people kiss the image of
Our Lady
and the pictures and statues of saints—not only their pictures, "but
even their relics are kissed," notes Nyrop. "They make both soul and
body whole." There are legends innumerable of sick people regaining
their health by kissing relics, he points out.
[7]:121
The kiss of respect has also represented a mark of fealty, humility
and reverence. Its use in ancient times was widespread, and Nyrop gives
examples: "people threw themselves down on the ground before their
rulers, kissed their footprints, literally 'licked the dust,' as it is
termed."
[7]:124
"Nearly everywhere, wheresoever an inferior meets a superior, we
observe the kiss of respect. The Roman slaves kissed the hands of their
masters; pupils and soldiers those of their teachers and captains
respectively."
[7]:124 People also kissed the earth for joy on returning to their native land after a lengthened absence, as when
Agamemnon returned from the
Trojan War
Nyrop points out, however, that in modern times the ceremonious kiss of
respect "has gone clean out of fashion in the most civilised
countries," and it is only retained in the Church, and that in many
cases "the practice would be offensive or ridiculous."
[7]:130
Kiss of friendship
The kiss is also commonly used in American and European culture as a
salutation between friends or acquaintances. The friendly kiss until
recent times usually occurred only between ladies, but today it is also
common between men and women, especially if there is a great difference
in age. According to Nyrop, up until the 20th century, "it seldom or
never takes place between men, with the exception, however, of royal
personages," although he notes that in former times the "friendly kiss
was very common with us between man and man as well as between persons
of opposite sexes." In guilds, for example, it was customary for the
members to greet each other "with hearty handshakes and smacking
kisses," and, on the conclusion of a meal, people thanked and kissed
both their hosts and hostesses.
[7]:142
[ sooo...here u are guys...everything about KISS :) ]
searched at Google
-R2J.r-
Love
can occur between two or more individuals. It bonds them and connects them in a
unified link of trust, intimacy and interdependence. It enhances the
relationship and comforts the soul. Love should be experienced and not just
felt. The depth of love can not be measured. Look at the relationship between a
mother and a child. The mother loves the child unconditionally and it can not be
measured at all.
A different dimension can be
attained between any relationships with the magic of love. Love can be created.
You just need to focus on the goodness of the other person. If this can be done
easily, then you can also love easily. And remember we all have some positive
aspect in us, no matter how bad our deeds maybe. And as God said Love all