This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| cheek kiss | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cheek kiss |
| Caption | Two people exchanging a cheek kiss |
| Type | Social gesture |
cheek kiss A cheek kiss is a brief social gesture involving contact or near-contact between cheeks, commonly used as a greeting, farewell, or sign of affection. It appears across diverse societies and is embedded in practices surrounding weddings, funerals, diplomatic meetings, and everyday interactions in cities such as Paris, Buenos Aires, and Istanbul. The gesture intersects with norms promoted by institutions like the Roman Catholic Church, United Nations, and national governments during ceremonies involving figures such as Pope Francis, Emmanuel Macron, and Justin Trudeau.
The cheek kiss typically comprises one or more light contacts or air kisses delivered to the cheek region near facial landmarks like the malar, zygomatic bone, or the area adjacent to the oral cavity. Variants include single, double, and triple kisses observed in locales from Madrid to Belgrade and during events like the Venice Film Festival or Cannes Film Festival. Practitioners may combine the gesture with handshakes observed in meetings between representatives of institutions such as the European Union or the African Union, or with hugs emulating scenes from films by directors like Pedro Almodóvar and Federico Fellini.
European capitals such as Rome, Brussels, and Athens show differing counts and sequences of cheek kisses, echoing regional customs tied to events like the Eurovision Song Contest and national holidays such as Bastille Day or Carnival of Venice. In Latin American contexts including Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Santiago, cheek kisses are common in social settings from tango salons to family gatherings during Día de los Muertos and Christmas masses at Metropolitan Cathedral. Middle Eastern practices in cities like Beirut, Cairo, and Amman may blend cheek kisses with cultural forms represented by figures like Naguib Mahfouz and ceremonies at sites like the Al-Azhar Mosque. Variation also appears in diasporic communities in New York City, Toronto, and Sydney where gestures are negotiated amid influences from personalities such as Alexander Hamilton, Pierre Trudeau, and events like the World Expo.
The cheek kiss performs roles in signaling affiliation among attendees at functions organized by entities like UNESCO, NATO, and national parliaments, and in mediating status during encounters involving public figures such as Nelson Mandela or Queen Elizabeth II. Etiquette manuals circulating in capitals like London, Madrid, and Rome advise on when to initiate the gesture, often alongside alternatives like handshakes endorsed in protocol for meetings with leaders at the White House or state visits to the Palace of Versailles. In social networks and celebrity culture, photographers at events like the Met Gala capture cheek-kiss moments between celebrities such as Madonna, Beyoncé, and Brad Pitt, reflecting norms that differ from backstage practices in theater traditions linked to Shakespearean companies or opera houses like La Scala.
Anthropologists trace cheek-kiss analogs to ancient practices in civilizations such as Rome, Athens, and Egypt where gestures of facial contact appear in depictions alongside rituals like the Triumph or funerary rites near the Nile. Medieval chronicles from courts in Paris and Avignon record salutations among nobility during events connected to the Hundred Years' War and councils like the Council of Trent. Enlightenment-era travelers from cities like Prague and Vienna documented regional kissing customs while diplomats of the Congress of Vienna navigated differing expectations, and modern mass media—newspapers like The Times and broadcasters like BBC—further popularized or contested the practice through coverage of personalities such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine.
Norms around who initiates or receives a cheek kiss vary across societies from patriarchal contexts illustrated in historical accounts from Ottoman Empire courts to more egalitarian norms observed in contemporary urban centers like Stockholm and Amsterdam. Intergenerational patterns emerge in family rituals documented in studies from universities such as Harvard University, University of Oxford, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where grandparents, parents, and children adopt differing frequencies of cheek kissing during celebrations like weddings, birthday parties at venues such as Madison Square Garden, and rites of passage including confirmations or bar mitzvahs at synagogues like Temple Beth El.
Public health agencies including the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and national health services in France and Brazil issue guidance on close-contact greetings during outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and influenza seasons. Medical literature from institutions like Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Karolinska Institutet discusses transmission risks related to respiratory pathogens, while legal and policy debates involving bodies like the European Court of Human Rights and national ministries of health have influenced protocol changes during events like the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Category:Social gestures