You get aroused, and you think it's the universal language of desire.
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| Image: instructables.com |
But we don't see chimps kissing.
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| Image: factsanddetails.com |
The origins of the kiss were studied in the early 20th century by natural historian Ernest Crawley. He wrote that the act of kissing was very rare among the lower and semi-civilized races but was fully-established as instinctive in early Greece. In 1500 BC India, sniff-kissing--an act of smelling with the mouth was described in the Vedic Sanskrit texts.
But other highly advanced civilizations like Egypt and China were were oblivious to the act of kissing. The Japanese society, before the 20th century, was unaware of the kiss except as applied by a mother to her infant. It was often observed among less civilized African tribes that neither husbands and wives, or lovers, kissed one another.
So we can safely say that the act of kissing is a culture assimilated from the west. The Greek passed on the practice to the Romans, which brought it everywhere their military went. Then it became so widespread in the western world the Catholic priests were unhappy and sought to prohibit the practice, though they still accepted kissing for strictly religious reasons if it occurred outside of church. By the turn of the 20th century British colonizers brought the practice to the east.
And today, thanks to cultural assimilation we kiss so much that we forget that our ancestors had never kissed. So kissing was not a universal language after all.
Malcolm
info:
Crawley, Ernest. Studies of Savages and Sex, Kessinger Publishing (revised and reprinted) (2006)
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/02/14/a-universal-language-understood-around-the-world-%E2%80%94-the-kiss/?__lsa=315083a4
But other highly advanced civilizations like Egypt and China were were oblivious to the act of kissing. The Japanese society, before the 20th century, was unaware of the kiss except as applied by a mother to her infant. It was often observed among less civilized African tribes that neither husbands and wives, or lovers, kissed one another.
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| We DON'T kiss yo~. Image: gate2biotech.com |
And today, thanks to cultural assimilation we kiss so much that we forget that our ancestors had never kissed. So kissing was not a universal language after all.
Malcolm
info:
Crawley, Ernest. Studies of Savages and Sex, Kessinger Publishing (revised and reprinted) (2006)
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/02/14/a-universal-language-understood-around-the-world-%E2%80%94-the-kiss/?__lsa=315083a4
YIKES. "We can safely say that the act of kissing is a culture assimilated from the west." Well, no, no we can't. Most Greek culture was learned from the Near East (so-called because it's near Western Europe) and considering the Vedic source we can easily suggest that kissing was well-established throughout Eurasia by the time of the Romans.
ReplyDeleteIt's also possible that early observations of African cultural groups were conducted with Noble Savage or Ignoble Savage outlooks in mind.
That is, you're reaching conclusions that are informed from the speculations of outdated natural scientists who worked from a theoretical framework of scientific racism.
As an aside, the picture you cite as an example of a 'less-civilized African tribe' is actually a photograph of Bathurst Island Indigenous Australians and it is ENORMOUSLY insensitive to genericize their heritage because you fucking think black skin & topless = native African.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathurst_Island_%28Northern_Territory%29