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International Kissing Day:Why do we kiss?

July 6, 2016 is International Kissing Day. The opportunity to celebrate a practice that is not new... And for good reason:kissing on the lips has been seen on Egyptian frescoes dated 3,800 years ago and Indian literature dated - 1,500 state of a kiss with the tongue. But how was the kiss born? And why ? Scientists, if they have made several hypotheses on this subject, do not agree on a single theory.

The origins of the kiss:cultural or stemming from animal instinct?

Some scientists see the labial and inter-oral kiss (on the lips and the one with the tongue) as being a modification, a deformation of the pre-mastication food activity, as do the mothers who give the beak in the animal world . And this, in particular by the meaning of this nurturing gesture which is unique to them and which testifies to the unconditional love they have for their offspring. However, anthropologists contest this first theory and expose another one:for them, the kiss would be a modification of the sniffing, like that practiced by animals among themselves, to smell their respective odor and thus obtain information vis-à-vis each other. the other individual's state of health or membership in the group. You should know that kissing is a gesture of affection extremely widespread in the Western world, but which is absolutely not practiced in certain countries of Asia, Polynesia or Sub-Saharan Africa where it is even repressed. Which, for the French journalist Alexandre Lacroix, corroborates the hypothesis of a heritage transmitted by our ancestors; for him, the kiss is cultural above all. The origins of this gesture that we love therefore remain a real mystery...

Each place has its meaning

According to a scientific study, physiologically, we kiss to select our partner. It is therefore an instinctive act, like the “seduction” operations carried out by certain animal species to choose theirs. Because by tasting our saliva, the sensors of Mr. would deliver messages to him in particular on our good fertility - during ovulation, hormones perfume the saliva - and other chemical data concerning our state of health. So much for the scientific aspect. From a cultural point of view, we kiss for other reasons:to prove our affection, our trust, our respect among others. A kiss on the forehead, on the mouth, on the arm... Depending on where it is placed, the kiss does not have the same meaning, the same "code". The kiss on the forehead is a sign of respect, of comfort. The kiss on the mouth is a proof of love or physical attraction, or strong affection between members of the same family, especially in Russia. On the other hand, la bise, which is also a form of kissing, is practiced only to say hello; it is proof of politeness above all, but neither of love, nor of direct physical attraction.

In short, the kiss can be practiced in many ways. All kisses have an emotional connotation, whatever it may be; we would be wrong to deprive ourselves of it!