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Kissing, so my dictionary states, is ‘to touch or caress someone with the lips as a sign of love, affection or greeting’, and who would argue with that? But, as the 19th century novelist, George Meredith, once wrote, ‘Kissing don’t last: cookery do!’ And that’s also true.
Have you, though, ever heard of ‘Kissing Friday’? - one of our country’s most curious of customs. It occurs on the Friday after Ash Wednesday, and it falls on 27th February this year, in case you haven’t heard of it.
On Kissing Friday, young men were entitled to kiss any girl, without fear of punishment or rejection. Psychologists, and the like, are divided over whether kissing is an instinctive or learnt behaviour; but there’s no doubting that it dates back many centuries.
The Romans (God bless ’em) had different words for kissing in their language. ‘Osculum’ means a kiss on the cheek; ‘Basium’ is a kiss on the lips, and ‘savolium’ implies a very deep kiss. But whatever your preference, one of the Marx Brothers, in a comedy film, once confessed, ‘I wasn’t kissing her, I was just whispering in her mouth!’
There are various kissing traditions, like kissing under the mistletoe and kissing the Blarney Stone. But there are heaps of others; I just name two.
‘Meet me at the Kissing Post’, which was a column placed in the registration room at Ellis Island, outside New York, where immigrants arrived during the 19th and 20th centuries. After enduring their voyages, immigrants were re-united with families already in America.
The second one you may be more familiar with. St Paul wrote that Christians should ‘greet each other with a holy kiss’. This is a kiss, or a handshake, held during Communion services, suggesting that we do the same.
But Kissing Friday? In these days of ‘political correctness’, kissing who ever you take a shine to on the 27th of this month, well - it could land you in trouble!
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