February 13, 2024 

“Touch the lip

well well keep

It’s the kiss

Baby kiss, bae kiss

hubby kiss, parent kiss, friend kiss

Kiss is natural tonic of mind

Stop war

Kiss the world.”

 – Jotsna jari 

    🔼

Kiss has a healing power or There is no gift greater than a sweet kiss…   Do you believe !!  Then Kiss Day just for you.

Kiss Day originated from the United Kingdom. This is celebrated every year on February 13. The unique idea behind kissing is showing your love towards your partner.  Partners seal their relationship through a sweet kiss. The kiss is used to convey closeness, passion, commitment, affection and devotion. Kiss is the great way to show your hidden feelings without use of any words. So a tender kiss can express love better than a thousand words. The main aim behind the celebration of Kiss Day is strengthen your relationship. This Day is a Golden Day in Valentine’s week. Homer writes about King Priam showing respect by kissing the hand of Achilles and he intercedes on behalf of his son (800-900 BC). After the conquest of Alexander the Great, the practice of kissing spreads yo the West (326 BC). First “open-mouthed” kiss occurs between Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in the film “Flesh and the Devil” (1926). 

Happy Kiss Day 

Kiss is the touch or pressing of one’s lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, sexual activity, sexual arousal, affection, respect, greeting, peace, and good luck, among many others. In some situations, a kiss is a ritual, formal or symbolic gesture indicating devotion, respect, or a sacramental. The word came from Old English cyssan (“to kiss”), in turn from coss (“a kiss”).

🔺 History :

Anthropologists disagree on whether kissing is an instinctual or learned behavior.

Some researchers believe that kissing began millions of years ago as a result of mouth-to-mouth feeding, with mammal mothers chewing food and then “forcing it” into the mouths of their young.

University of Nevada Las Vegas, found that only 46% use lip-to-lip kissing in a romantic sense, excluding things like parent-child kissing or greetings.

The earliest reference to kissing-like behavior comes from the Vedas, Sanskrit scriptures that informed Hinduism,  Buddhism, and Jainism, around 3,500 years ago, according to Vaughn Bryant, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University who specializes in the history of the kiss.

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.

A fresco from Pompeii showing the kiss of Roman couple.

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 was not always an indication of eros, or love, but also could show respect and rank as it was used in Medieval Europe.

 The study of kissing started sometime in the nineteenth century and is called philematology.

🔺 Importance and significance :

Kiss day was borne out of the idea that many people forget the pleasure one can gain from the single act of kissing. It is the best way to make others feel loved and express love in return. The simple pleasure of kissing your partner before leaving for work or after coming back from a long day has lost its essence in the fast pace of the modern world. But kiss day aims to revive the celebration of expressing love.       Whenever your love starts fading out, you can simply rekindle the romance by a minimum act of intimacy each day.

🔺 Health benefits :

 Kissing stimulates the production of hormones responsible for a good mood: oxytocin, which releases the feeling of love and strengthens the bond with the partner, endorphins – hormones responsible for the feeling of happiness –, and dopamine, which stimulates the pleasure center in the brain . Regular kissing protects against depression. Affection in general has stress-reducing effects. Kissing in particular has been studied in a controlled experiment and it was found that increasing the frequency of kissing in marital and cohabiting relationships results in a reduction of perceived stress, an increase in relationship satisfaction, and a lowering of cholesterol levels.

🔺 Disease transmission :

 Kissing on the lips can result in the transmission of some diseases, including infectious mononucleosis (known as the “kissing disease”) and herpes simplex when the infectious viruses are present in saliva. Research indicates that contraction of HIV via kissing is extremely unlikely, although there was a documented case in 1997 of an HIV infection by kissing. Both the woman and infected man had gum disease, so transmission was through the man’s blood, not through saliva.

🔺 Kiss Day Poetry : 

*** Both lip and tongue kissing are mentioned in Sumerian [ Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), 4500 BC ] poetry:- 

 My lips are too small, they know not to kiss.

 My precious sweet, lying by my heart,

 one by one “tongue making,” one by one.

 When my sweet precious, my heart, had lain down too,

 each of them in turn kissing with the tongue, each in turn.

*** Kissing is described in the surviving ancient Egyptian love poetry from the New Kingdom, found on papyri…

                            excavated at Deir el-Medina:- 

 Finally I will drink life from your lips

 and wake up from this ever lasting sleep.

 The wisdom of the earth in a kiss

 and everything else in your eyes.

 I kiss her before everyone

 that they all may see my love.

 And when her lips are pressed to mine

 I am made drunk and need not wine.

 When we kiss, and her warm lips half

 open,

 I fly cloud-high without beer!

 His kisses on my lips, my breast, my hair…

 …Come! Come! Come! And kiss me when I die,

 For life, compelling life, is in thy breath;

 And at that kiss, though in the tomb I lie,

 I will arise and break the bands of Death.

*** Roman poets such as Catullus celebrated kissing, as, for example,

in Catullus 8 :- 

Goodbye girl, now Catullus is firm,/ He doesn’t search for you, won’t ask unwillingly./ But you’ll grieve, when nobody asks./ Woe to you, wicked girl, what life’s left for you?/ Who’ll submit to you now? Who’ll see your beauty?/ Who now will you love? Whose will they say you’ll be?/ Who will you kiss? Whose lips will you bite?/ But you, Catullus, be resolved to be firm.

                                   [ Catullus(84 – 54 BC) is ancient Rome’s greatest poet. 

                                 His poems are the best examples of Latin poetry. ] 

***Modern Poetry :- 

Before the fog of strangers cleared, 

he called me & said, 

How are you…   what are you doing ? 

Just before giving the right answer

distanced mountain & 

the light of the tower  were seen… 

Shal flowers laughed 

in absolute crowd. 

Nepali girls  spreading their legs 

on the green lawn 

are laughing 

Continuous nightingale song…  

You stood on the other side of the road

Then I am picking up 

one thorn after another  

from the hem of cotton sari.

.🌹 Poem :  Hidden Kiss

       Poet :  jotsna jari  

FAQs :  Kiss Day  2024 

1.  What is Kiss day India?

Ans:-  Kiss Day is celebrated on February 13

, and it is considered a golden day in Valentine’s week. This is the day when you express your love for your beloved in the most romantic fashion, where you profess your love through feelings and not words. A tender kiss can express love better than a thousand words.

2.  What is Kiss Day date?

Ans:-  February 13 is also celebrated as International Kiss Day. It falls a day before Valentine’s Day which is celebrated on February 14 all over the world as the day of love. Kiss Day precedes valentine’s Day.

3.  What is Japanese kiss day?

Ans:-  May 23rd

 is “Kiss Day” because it’s the day that saw the release in 1946 of the first Japanese film with a kissing scene, Hatachi no seishun (20-Year-Old Youth). Not surprisingly, the scene was a decorous one by the standards of today but at the time it was a big deal. 

4.  Why International Kissing Day?

Ans:-  International Kissing Day itself is not only about French kissing your significant other, but to bring people closer in general

. The main idea behind it was that so many people have forgotten the simple pleasures associated with kissing for kissing’s sake, as opposed to kissing as mere social formality.

5.  How to Wish Kiss Day?

Ans:-  Wishing you a kiss day filled with all the love and affection your heart desires

. Happy kiss day to the one who steals my heart with every kiss. May your kiss day be as sweet and special as you are. Wishing you a day full of tender kisses and loving moments.

6.  What happens in Kiss Day?

Ans:-  Kiss Day is celebrated on February 13, and it is considered a golden day in Valentine’s week. This is the day when you express your love for your beloved in the most romantic fashion, where you profess your love through feelings and not words

. A tender kiss can express love better than a thousand words.

7.  Why do people celebrate Kiss Day?

Ans:-  Significance of Kiss Day It provides an opportunity for people to express their love and affection to those they care about

, setting the stage for a more romantic and intimate celebration on Valentine’s Day itself. It basically happens to be a fun and meaningful way to celebrate love and affection.

8.  Is it National kiss Your Girlfriend day?

Ans:-  National Kissing Day, on June 22, is all about showing your love and improving your health. That’s right, kissing is actually good for you.

9. Is today National kiss your BF day?

Ans:-  This event is always observed on April 28

.

10.  What is the K-I-S-S-I-N-G rhyme?

Ans:-  Familiar to children in the US and the UK, often with embarrassing consequences, the song goes like this:

“John and Mary (or any two names)

sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,

first comes love, then come marriage,

then comes baby

in a baby carriage!”

11.  Who invented kissing and why?

Ans:-  While the true origin of kissing remains a mystery, historians have found in India the earliest references to the practice

. Four major texts in the Vedic Sanskrit literature suggest an early form of kissing. Dating from 1500 B.C., they describe the custom of rubbing and pressing noses together.

12.  When did humans first start kissing?

Ans:-  First Recorded Kiss (circa 1500 B.C.

). Whatever the case, the earliest known written mentions of it are in Vedic Sanskrit scriptures circa 1500 B.C., according to research by Vaughn Bryant, an anthropology professor at Texas A&M University.

13.  What is the history of a kiss?

Ans:-  The earliest reference to kissing-like behavior comes from the Vedas, Sanskrit scriptures that informed Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, around 3,500 years ago

, according to Vaughn Bryant, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University who specializes in the history of the kiss.

14.  How did humans start kissing?

Ans:-  Many scientists believe that kissing came from the practice of kiss-feeding

, where mothers would feed their young mouth-to-mouth. Imagine birds feeding worms to their little chicks.