This follows from my last post on hellos and goodbyes. With all the going away celebrations, there are lots of greetings taking place. In the States, when you meet friends, most people shake hands or you may kiss the person on the cheek if you have a closer relationship. Coming from a Cuban family, I am used to kissing everyone on the cheek once as a greeting and in saying good-bye.
In Europe, however, greetings vary from country to country. I have done some informal anthropological research among friends and the results are in.
In the UK, most people shake hands and cheek kissing is highly unlikely. In Spain, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Finland, it is a kiss on each cheek. In France, it actually depends on the region, but four is the norm. The Dutch also give four kisses from cheek to cheek. In Germany, kissing is restricted to family, handshakes being the norm. In Belgium, one kiss is the norm if the person is of similar age. If they are older, you kiss three times as a sign of respect. In Italy, it is 2 to 3 times and is restricted mostly to close friends and family. Confused yet?
In Poland, Ukraine Slovakia and Czech Republic, it is three kisses. This is actually symbolic of the Holy Trinity in these heavily Catholic areas. In fact, many traditions in Eastern Europe are done in threes for the same reason.
So there you have it in a nutshell. If ever in doubt, just follow the head movement from cheek to cheek until the other person stops!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment