Kiss As Ritual
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Joan of Arc kissing the "Sword of Liberation;" painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1863
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Kiss on the crucifix in Christianity
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Denis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher, kissing the hand of Nancy Reagan wife of US President in 1988
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Kissing the Blarney Stone
Throughout history, a kiss has been a ritual, formal, symbolic or social gesture indicating devotion, respect or greeting. It appears as a ritual or symbol of religious devotion. For example, in the case of kissing a temple floor, or a religious book or icon. Besides devotion, a kiss has also indicated subordination or, nowadays, respect.
In modern times the practice continues, as in the case of a bride and groom kissing at the conclusion of a wedding ceremony or national leaders kissing each other in greeting, and in many other situations.
Read more about this topic: Kiss
Famous quotes containing the words kiss and/or ritual:
“He says he loves my daughter:
I think so too; for never gaz’d the moon
Upon the water as he’ll stand and read
As ‘twere my daughter’s eyes: and, to be plain,
I think there is not half a kiss to choose
Who loves another best.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“We must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe. The way is through daily ritual, and is an affair of the individual and the household, a ritual of dawn and noon and sunset, the ritual of the kindling fire and pouring water, the ritual of the first breath, and the last.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)