Wow it hardly seems that long, to be honest I have been at a bit of a loss at what to put on my blog, then the longer it went on the more difficult if became. So now I have just decided to burble on a bit and hope you all wont notice.
In between sorting everyone out and work I rarely seem to have time to sit and blog.
Last weekend hubby and I took our xmas trip to see our friends in Warrington. I am really glad to see them on the other side of it, one of my friends has MS and is hardly able to talk, she is very difficult to understand and is now completely dependent on other people to wash, dress and feed her etc. So sad, to see my friend in such a state. She used to be the landlady of my local, so we had numerous good nights out, shopping trips. It really upsets me, whilst at the same time I am pleased to see her, devasting.
Other things of note, stepson, is probably going to move back in with his manipulative pyscho girlfriend.
Mother In law, is in a state about what to buy everyone for xmas, though I have now sorted her just got to wrap them all now.
Husband looks like he might lose his job after xmas, he told me yesterday. Stepdaughter is seeing a bloke 18yrs older than her, whilst that is not a problem, from what I understand he is a complete waste of space.
I think I am all ranted out now, not much of one was it, but on a happier note to finish I found this article on the internet whilst cruising about on it and thought I would republish it here for you people to think about over xmas.
The History of the Kiss
Historians really don't know much about the early history of kissing. Four Vedic Sanskrit texts, written in India around 1500 B.C., appear to describe people kissing. This doesn't mean that nobody kissed before then, and it doesn't mean that Indians were the first to kiss. Artists and writers may have just considered kissing too private to depict in art or literature.
After its first mention in writing, kissing didn't appear much in art or literature for a few hundred years. The Indian epic poem "Mahabharata" describes kissing on the lips as a sign of affection. The "Mahabharata" was passed down orally for several hundred years before being written down and standardized around 350 A.D. The Indian religious text "Vatsyayana Kamasutram," or the "Kama Sutra," also describes a variety of kisses. It was written in the 6th century A.D. Anthropologists who believe that kissing is a learned behavior theorize that the Greeks learned about it when Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 B.C.
There aren't many records of kissing in the Western world until the days of the Roman Empire. Romans used kisses to greet friends and family members. Citizens kissed their rulers' hands. And, naturally, people kissed their romantic partners. The Romans even came up with three different categories for kissing:
Osculum was a kiss on the cheek
Basium was a kiss on the lips
Savolium was a deep kiss
Kissing under the Mistletoe
Today, some people seem to spend the holiday season waiting under the mistletoe in the hopes of kissing whoever passes by. But until the 1400s, kissing under mistletoe was a big commitment. Such kisses often meant that a couple was engaged.
The Romans also started several kissing traditions that have lasted to the present day. In ancient Rome, couples became betrothed by kissing passionately in front of a group of people. This is probably one reason why modern couples kiss at the end of wedding ceremonies. Additionally, although most people today think of love letters as "sealed with a kiss," kisses were used to seal legal and business agreements. Ancient Romans also used kissing as part of political campaigns. However, several "kisses for votes" scandals in 18th century England led – in theory – to candidates kissing only the very young and very old.
The kiss at the end of a wedding probably comes from ancient Roman kissing traditions.
Kissing played a role in the early Christian Church. Christians often greeted one another with an osculum pacis, or holy kiss. According to this tradition, the holy kiss caused a transfer of spirit between the two people kissing. Most researchers believe the purpose of this kiss was to establish familial bonds between the members of the church and to strengthen the community.
Until 1528, the holy kiss was part of Catholic mass. In the 13th century, the Catholic Church substituted a pax board, which the congregation kissed instead of kissing one another. The Protestant Reformation in the 1500s removed the kiss from Protestant services entirely. The holy kiss doesn't typically play a role in modern Christian religious services, although some Christians do kiss religious symbols, including the Pope's ring.
Although few religions currently incorporate the holy kiss, kissing remains prevalent throughout Western culture. Nowadays, people kiss in many contexts and for many reasons.
But not all kisses have been happy events. Works of literature like "Romeo and Juliet" have portrayed kisses as dangerous or deadly when shared between the wrong people. Some folklorists and literary critics view vampirism as symbolic of the physical and emotional dangers that can come from kissing the wrong person.
Most cultures around the world kiss today, but many have different views about when and where kissing is appropriate. In the 1990s, several news articles reported a trend of young people kissing in public in Japan, where kissing had traditionally been viewed as a private activity.
Next time you kiss someone, you can impress your friends by telling them the Roman catergory. Savolium for me please...with chips?
No comments:
Post a Comment