And So It Begins...

Happy 2013!

As many people have done in the past and will continue to do in the future, I started the year with a gentle and loving kiss with my husband.  I love the New Year’s kiss.  I really just love kissing in general, but on New Year’s with my Snugglebunny it holds a wee bit higher status for me.  I had no idea why this tradition came about, so I went hunting for answer and found more than I bargained for.

Among other and sometimes stranger NYE traditions of course is the Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes—one for each toll of the clock at midnight.  This is for good luck.  My nephew upon learning of the tradition reached a different conclusion.  He saw it as a way to have healthy bowels. Really.  You see, he knows grapes make him poop; therefore 12 grapes to start the new year means his intestinal health will prosper.    Oy!  There’s also the direction of the wind idea for New Year’s.  I personally was unfamiliar with this tradition.  Apparently the direction of wind foretells the upcoming year’s events.  For those in my area where this morning’s winds were from the northwest, I am truly sorry.  Luckily it’s just superstition, right?  For some, the food’s the thing.  Black eyed peas, greens and cornbread baby!  I didn’t realize this one had so many variations, but yummy about sums it up!  Now I’m hungry and I have more write.

Back to the kiss.

Did you know that it isn’t just the person you date or married that you should kiss?  The midnight kiss is a ward against “a year of coldness and lack of affection.”  Whew!  Dodged that one.  However, it need not be a human you kiss.  According to one survey, more people will kiss a pet on NYE than a human!  A gender gap exists here; women are four times more likely to spend NYE with a pet than a man.  In that same article it is apparently a political choice as well with Dems spending NYE with a pet more than Repubs do.  Historians though do trace the practice of the kiss back to Romans.  What didn’t come from the Romans when it comes to celebration practices right?  Anyway, Saturnalia apparently did give rise to the New Year’s kiss as did the English and Germans who held masked balls.  They used the removal of the mask for a kiss as a way to rid evil spirits from the new year as well as setting the tone for your relationships that year.  No pressure.

Of course, no discussion of the New Year’s kiss would be complete without the clip from the classic rom-com When Harry Met Sally.

Anyway, as I look for all those little things that make me happy, kissing is definitely high on the list.  My husband has always been a fantastic kisser and I couldn’t ask for a better start to 2013 than a generous and sincere kiss from this gentleman.