One Kiss One Day, Always Kisses!

Far from being an act intended only for couples, the kiss is something instinctive that human beings share with the rest of living beings and which shows an emotional connection.

On April 13, International Kissing Day is celebrated all over the world.

It is possible that some view this day with a little irony or distance. But why not devote a day to such a positive, healthy and enriching act for human beings?

Maybe during this day you will see the classic images of people kissing in the street, on public benches.

But the kiss, this natural and almost instinctive gesture, is not reduced only to this exchange of saliva between two people.

The kiss that a mother gives to her child or the kiss that a friend gives to another friend to show him complicity and tenderness. These are actions that we all love to see and of course to put into practice.

So tell us… How many kisses did you give today? Maybe not enough! 

The kiss, a universal gesture of affection

Why are we kissing? If you are asking yourself this question, we have to tell you that science, anthropology, history and psychology encourage this behavior in any case.

This is why there is such unanimity on the subject. Each discipline has given us its answer, and they are all very interesting.

A little history…

Let’s start with the habit and the secret pleasure of kissing on the mouth. Have we always done it?

Historians believe that indeed, this gesture has always been as universal as it is common. 

However, if we seek information on this subject, we have a curious regulation imposed around the year 740 BC. JC in Europe, which often makes people smile.

• Romulus was the founder and first king of the monarchy of Rome. He dictated a law (rather macho) which authorized a practice that everyone viewed favorably.
• The law stated that women should not drink wine even in their own homes. They couldn’t hold the keys to their taverns either.
• To detect a possible violation of the law on the part of a wife, husbands had to come close to their faces to smell their breath. If they weren’t sure, they could be tougher and stick their tongues into their mouths to find out.
• Gradually, this technique began to be so common that “these kisses” went from private to public. They were seen as something as normal as it was pleasant. Then, the law allowed it and it was easily put into practice (even if that does not mean that before we did not do it).

Kissing is part of our biology

If we want to make contact with someone who attracts us, whom we love and desire, we need to make contact with the mouth.

We don’t do it with our ears, our elbows, our fingers. It is the mouth that acts as a link of pleasure, satisfaction and a torrent of multiple emotions capable of doing us good.

• There is one piece of data that will undoubtedly strike you as astonishing. There is a science called philamatology. She studies how the exchange of saliva helps us choose the most suitable partner.
• According to a study conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the chemicals in saliva help us assess a partner to see if they are more or less suited to our needs. needs.
• We know it might sound like science fiction, but not all the people we’ve kissed are successful in reducing stress. Or even to increase this hormone linked to tenderness, affection, compassion or love like oxytocin does.
  

The animals also kiss

If you have animals in your home, you will no doubt know that they too show us affection. Indeed, they come very close to give us “kisses”.

• Dogs or cats lick our faces and look around at us. They need this closeness which makes us happy and fulfills us.
• Helen Fisher, professor of anthropology at the State University of New Jersey (United States) and a world expert in the biology of love, tells us that the kiss is a mechanism of union and adaptation in most living beings.

We can for example observe how chimpanzees and bonobos kiss each other.

• Foxes and hair also lick their snouts, birds prick each other with their beaks and elephants put their trunks in other elephants’ mouths with an incredible gesture of sincere love.

So, without a doubt, it is worth celebrating this day. Indeed,  it is a natural, basic and necessary gesture. It connects us to each other and should be put into practice as often as possible.