Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
- Author, William Park
- Role, BBC FUTURE
Di hype of kissing from romance feems don plenti but shey na true say dI first kiss na wetIn go tell us say we don meet di one? We dey value am wella but why kissing dey so special?
One idea be say as babies wey bin like lip touching wella, From breastfeeding go front, we don see anytin wey get to do wit our lips as positive reinforcements.
Suggestion dey say we dey specifically fine tuned to like mouth to mouth kissing becos from our evolutionary past, afta we cry our mama dem chew our food for us den put am for our mouths, for wetin dem dey call premastication food transfer and na known behaviour for we ape relatives.
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Secondly, our lips dey very sensitive. Na one of di few parts of our body wey we no dey use cloth cover.
Anthropologist Professior Willian Jankowial tok say, “di more clothes you wear, di more di kissing. Di less clothes you wear, di less di kissing. Di interesting exception na say for hunter and gatherers, kissing no dey. Apart from di Inuits for di Arctic zone.
“Na di only hunter-gatherer group wey dey kiss – di famous Oceanic kiss wia dem dey rub nose. Dem no dey run dia mouth on top each oda mouth.”
Di question na why?
Jankowiak tok say, “for all oda places wia hunters and gatherers dey, dem no dey wia cloth. E mean say dem fit get sensual encounter wit any part of dia bodi. But wen you wia clothes, di only sensuality wey dey available na di human face.”
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Dem fit be evolutionary purpose for kissing too.
Wen we near each oda, we fit pick up clues from di smell of eack oda. E fit explain why romantic lip to lip kiss no dey very popular for human behaviour.
According to one analysis, na less dan half of all cultures dey kiss wit mouth. Jankowiak find out sat na only 46% of di 168 cultures around di workd dey do lip to lip kissing as romance.
E explain say, “I tink di key to pipo sensuality fit dey met in different ways apart from kissing. But interesting enof, strong pattern dey, say di greater di social complexity, di more frequently, you go find kissing.”
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
Di oldest written evidence for kissing na from di 3,500-year-old Hindu vedic sanskrit texts.
Sheril R Krishenbaum, author of The Science of Kissing say, “many cultures dey wey get kissing of mouth to mouth wey resemble di type wey we dey do today.
“But dat na Malay kiss wey Charles Darwin describe. Na wia women go squat to di ground and men go hang on top of dem and dem go smell demsleves.”
For di Trobriand Islands, wey dey off di east coast of Papua New Guinea, lovers dey kiss by say dem siddon face to face come dey gently bite di oda pesin eyelashes. Kirshenbaum tok about dat method of kissing say, “I tink too many of us today e no go sound like di height of romance but na wetin totori dem.”
She add, “all of dis na fit show sense of trust, to near anoda pesin, and na means to bring us closer to di pipo wey we care about.”
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
Kissing by say we lock lips na almost sometin wey only humans dey do. If kissing get evolutionary purpose, why e be say we no dey see animals do am?
Melissa Hogenboom ansa dat question for BBC Earth for 2015.
“One of di reason we fit wan near pesin face na to smell dem.
“Scent dey give plenti informate like diet, presence of disease, mood an relatedness, to name a few. But many animals fit smell beta pass us so dem no need near each oda like dat.”
So we go kontinu to kiss – and why some cultures no dey try am?
Krishenbaum tok say, “we don see kissing kontinu to arise and disappear around di world for plenti reasons like diseases wia some emperors go ban kissing among dia pipo bicos dem no tink say na privilege wey dem suppose get.
“But sometin wey dey standard, wey we dey see ova and ova again na say even wit banning am, even wit disease, kissing dey always come back.”