Kissing History

Pucking Up Through The Ages

Kissing: the intimate act used to express feelings o  f love, passion, affection, respect, friendship, greetings and many more. A kiss can vary widely in different cultures, for example, a kiss can be used in formal greetings, or ritual and traditional formalities, or for religious reasons, as well as being used as an intimate expression of love. But where did kissing come from? How has the act evolved over time?

Kissing Through History

Ancient Indian Kissing

The earliest evidence of kissing came from Indian Vedic Sanskrit texts that date back to around 1500 BC. In these texts there are descriptions of people kissing. However, while the texts don’t mention the word ‘kiss’, there are references to ‘licking’ and ‘drinking moisture of the lips’, which historians believe refers to the act of intimate kissing. There is also an epic Indian poem called ‘Mahabharata’ that describes the act of kissing on the lips as a sign of affection. The ‘Mahabharata’ was originally passed down orally for several hundred years, before being written down and recorded properly around 350 AD. It was also around this point in time when the Vatsyayana Kamasutra (better known as the Kama Sutra) was established. Considered to be the standard work on human sexual behaviors, the Karma Sutra included an entire section on the different ways of lavishing kisses on a lover.

Roman Empire Kissing

Kissing doesn’t really surface in the Western world until the days of the Roman Empire, where Romans would use kisses to greet family and friends, as well as express feelings of love, and to pay their respects to ruler’s by kissing their hand. The Romans had three differentcategories for kissing, ‘Osculum’ was a kiss on the cheek, ‘Basium’ was a kiss on the lips, and ‘Savolium’ was a deep kiss. The Romans are responsible for beginning out modern day traditions when it comes to kissing. In ancient Rome, a couple became betrothed by kissing passionately on the lips in front of a group of people. The term ‘sealed with a kiss’ also comes from ancient Rome, where were used like handshakes to seal legal and business agreements and even during political campaigns.

Religious Kissing History

In the early Christian Church, Christians would use kissing as a way to greet one another. This greeting, known as an ‘Osculum Pacis’, or holy kiss, was believed to transfer the spirit between the two people. It was also used to establish family bond between the members of the church and to strengthen the community, as well as separating Christians and non-Christians.

Kissing in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, kissing was a demonstration of a person’s social standing.  Subjects of a King would kiss his ring, robe, hands or even the ground beneath his feet to show respect. This kind of respect was also shown toward the Pope. A kiss was also used as a greeting between feudal lords and vassals as a show of trust. It was also during this time that many men did not know how to read and write, so a kiss was used as a legal way to seal contracts, as it had been done in ancient Rome. An ‘X’ would be drawn on the line and kissed, making it legal. This symbol of a kiss has been carried over into modern day, with ‘X’ being written to represent a kiss.

Kissing Today

During the Industrial Revolution, the kiss became replaced by the handshake as a form of agreement between to people when it came to legal and business matters. By 1872, Charles Darwin had theorized that due to the global diversity and popularity of kissing, humans must possess an innate desire to want to connect with others in this way. Darwin surmised that kissing is rooted deep within our evolutionary past, but is influenced by our social-cultural traditions, rules and customs.

The term “French kiss” came into the English language around 1923 as an insult towards the French culture which was thought to be overly concerned with sex. In France, it’s called a tongue kiss or soul kiss because if done right, it feels as if two souls are merging.

Kissing occurs in most cultures around the world today, but there are many different views on what is appropriate when it comes to displays of affection. In Middle Eastern countries public displays of affection, including holding hands, cuddling and kissing can be punishable by law. In some Asian countries, while not illegal, kissing is considered a private activity, and PDA is frowned upon.

Kissing Conclusion

Scientists, scholars and anthropologists are divided over whether kissing is a learned or instinctual behaviour. There are also many theories behind where kissing evolved from, including when mothers orally passed chewed food to their infants during the weaning period, or that kissing evolved from prospective mates sniffing each other’s pheromones to check for biological compatibility. Another theory suggests it was used to judge a person as a potential mate. Whatever the reason for the development of kissing, it has come through history as a symbol and expression of human feelings.
source:infobarrel

The History of The Bikini

How The 'Bikini Body' Came Into Fashion

A History of the Iconic Two Piece Suit

Every summer, across the globe, millions of women prepare their bodies for the display of the tiny little swimsuit known as the bikini. With beaches to hit, pools to swim in, and tans to achieve, the bikini has become summer’s sexualised fashion icon, allowing women to show off their bodies. However, the modern take on this two piece swimming attire actually dates back thousands of years.
The first depiction of women in bikinis dates back to the Diocletian Period (286-305 AD) where artwork was discovered and excavated in Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily. The artwork, a mosaic, depicts ten women in garments that resemble our notion of the modern bikini. The ten women, shown to be exercising and stretching, have been dubbed the “Bikini Girls”.
In a similar style to the modern-day bikini, in Ancient Greek times, two piece garments where worn by women for athletic participation and purposes. They are depicted on urns and in paintings dating back to 1400 BC.
Today’s notion and style of the bikini was invented in 1946 by French car engineer Louis Réard. At the time he was working at his mother's lingerie boutique, when the idea for a "smaller than the smallest swimsuit" came to him when he noticed that women were rolling up their clothes and swimsuits on the beach to get a better tan.
Louis Réard came up with the name ‘Bikini’ after Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the site of an atomic bomb test. He thought that the excitement from the swimsuit would be as explosive as an atomic bomb. The bikini was a string bikini, with a G-String bottom and consisted of only 30 square inches. 
Because of the scandalous nature of the bikini, Louis Réard could not find a 'respectable' model to wear it, so he ended up hiring a nineteen year old nude dancer named Micheline Bernardini, who worked at the Casino de Paris.
The bikini was officially introduced on July 5th 1946 at a public pool in Paris, known as Piscine Molitor. In pictures taken on the day, Micheline is seen holding a small box in which the entire bikini could be packed into.
Although controversal and shocking, the bikini started to gain attention in the fifties thanks to high-profile actresses and models modelling it. By the sixties, the sexual appeal of the bikini had made it to film, with the infamous scene in the 1962 James Bond film 'Dr. No'. In the scene, actress Ursula Andress emerges from the ocean wearing a white bikini. The scene went on to make Ursula's career, as well as being named the top bikini moment in film history by Channel 4. This scene prompted further films and television shows to incorporate the bikini into productions, most notably the 1963 surf movie 'Beach Party', causing the bikini to become a pop-culture success. Magazines also jumped on success of the bikini, with Playboy capitalizing on the sexual appeal by first featuring a bikini on its cover in 1962. Two years later, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue also featured the bikini. This all lead to a massive increase in global success of the bikini that continued through the 70s and 80s.


By the end of the century, the bikini had become the most popular beach swimwear across the globe, having been further popularised by celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Pamela Anderson, Rachel Welch, Rita Hayworth and Jayne Mansfield. Pin up posters of bikini clad models and celebrities became a common appearance in male bedrooms across the globe, and girls capitalised on the sexualized overtones of the bikini during summer.
By the early 2000s, the bikini business had become a multi-million dollar industry, with spin-off industries in both waxing and tanning. The bikini had also prompted different designs, all adopting the -kini suffix in tribute to the original. These spin-off designs include the tankini, monokini, seekini and mankini.
From its controversial early days, to its ultra-popular fashion statement now, the bikini has become a dominating global icon and success.

Read more: http://www.infobarrel.com/History_of_The_Bikini#ixzz1nz392QEQ