PECULIARITIES of GREETINGS

 

цкюбмюъ ярпюммхжю

══════════════════════════════════ оепебнд

══════════════════════════════════════════════ оепебнд х йскэрспю

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ янжхнкхмцбхярхйю

 

' You - may have ' noticed that Frenchmen shake hands every time they meet, and kiss each other on both cheeks as a ceremonial salute, like the Russians, while Englishmen shake hands only when they are introduced, or after a long absence.

In other parts of the world they have ≈ or had ≈ much more complicated greetings. Some Philippine Islanders, for instance, really used to take trouble, bending low with hands on cheeks, then raising one foot in the air. In neighbouring islands they would grab your hand or foot and rub it on their faces. In what is now Indonesia, they'd lift your left foot, pass it over the right leg and then over the face.

In ancient, Gaul people used to tear their hair out and present it to their friends when they met, African tribesmen would perform finger-cracking exercises, and the Japanese took off a slipper.
Ethiopians used to take off a friend's robe on meeting, and tie it round their own waist, leaving the friend half-naked. Tahitians stripped completely.

One tribe of Indians in North America greatly overdid their welcome. They made a room very hot, then spent the evening throwing water over hot stones until the heat was unbearable, at the same time providing their guest with vast quantities of food. If the guest ate all the food before he was 'burnt out', it was a disgrace to his host, otherwise the host got a present.

 

The Chinese carried courtesy to extremes, with an Academy of Compliments. Visiting ambassadors had to take a 40-day course before appearing in court so that they bowed the correct number of times, and didn't incline to the left instead of to the right. Meeting after a separation, two Chinese would kneel and how two or three times, and a host would even Salute the chair a guest was to sit on.

Victorian England made nearly as many rules about hand shaking as the Chinese did about bowing. A man could not offer his hand first to a lady; young ladies did not shake men's hands at all unless they were old friends; married ladies could offer their hands in a room, but not in public, where they would bow slightly.

 

═Girls in Scandinavia still curtsy to older women and Indians greet each other with hands together as in prayer. In the East a bargain is sealed by smacking your right hand hard against that of your partner.

By Josephine Bolton. from The Observer Magazine. 14 July. 1974