History of Kissing at Midnight

posted in: Holidays, Traditions | 0

Have you ever wondered why people kiss at midnight?

Couple come together to celebrate and bring in the New Year together, kissing as the New Year rings in.  However, this can be very lonely and uncomfortable for singles.

However, the idea for kissing goes back to the idea that the first person encountered at the start of the new year would determine whether you had good or bad fortune for the year ahead.

Some historians trace the practice back to ancient Rome.

Every year, the Romans had a large celebration known as the Festival of Saturnalia. This was a holy day on which religious rites were performed. Everyone was treated equal, including slaves, during this week of celebration and restrictions were more relaxed.

The Romans would reconcile their differences with enemies to kiss underneath mistletoe, which represented peace.

By the time of the Renaissance, masquerade balls were popular across Europe and people would remove their masks at midnight to kiss as a way to purify themselves from evil.

The English and Germans built on this ideas, and spread the superstition that a kiss at midnight would strengthen a budding romance and help avoid a loveless year ahead.

In Scotland, they celebrate Hogmanay for the new year.  Their tradition is to give a kiss to everyone in the room.  The ideas is to connect friends and strangers.  It also makes those who are single feel better.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.