With Christmas now past us and New Year's Eve right around the corner, the pressure is on for many LA singles to find something to do, or more like someone to kiss when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day. What's the big deal with a stupid little kiss anyways? And where did this tradition even come from?
The origin of this kissing tradition supposedly dates back to the Ancient Romans who used to throw huge parties where they'd all kiss and debauch each other until they passed out.
Later on, the English and Germans celebrated a little differently by kissing the first person they met at midnight. The Scots, on the other hand, were a little more free spirited and customarily try to give everyone in the room a kiss as way to ring in the New Year.
The Europeans were a bit more classy and held masquerade balls where the masks symbolized evil spirits and kisses were acts of purification once the masks came off.
Legend has it that a kiss at the strike of midnight on New Year's Day will bring you a full year of happiness, and kissing those closest to you will strengthen the bonds of those relationships in the year to come. However, legend also has it that failure to score a New Year's kiss in the nick of time will only bring you a year of loneliness.
Since the Ancient Romans, the infamous New Year's kiss has become a mythical custom in Western culture that marks the celebration of a New Year and sets the tone for the whole rest of the year. It's a custom primarily shared among couples, but what about us single people, eh?
I don't know about you, but the idea of kissing everyone in the room or the first person I meet at midnight kind of irks me. You don't know where their mouths have been. You know that random stranger you kissed last year? He or she could have had herpes for all you know...just saying. The whole kissing thing is a tradition I'd rather forgo thank you very much. Besides, there's hardly anything romantic about kissing and debauchery combined.
Personally, the New Year's kiss is much more than a tradition. For some reason, I've always imagined it to be special and with someone worth kissing. For me, the New Year's kiss has always marked the beginning of a new relationship or the continuation of an existing one.
The New Year's kiss is a special and magical kiss. Don't waste your New Year's kiss on just anybody--it only comes around once a year. And if someone wants to go for your lips, just turn your head and give 'em your cheek.
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