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:
“The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Cinema is the culmination of the obsessive, mechanistic male drive in western culture. The movie projector is an Apollonian straightshooter, demonstrating the link between aggression and art. Every pictorial framing is a ritual limitation, a barred precinct.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)