Thursday, 26 September 2013

The Eskimo Kiss

An Eskimo kiss is when two people rub their noses together as a sign of affection. The Inuit are often thought to replace kissing with this nose-to-nose gesture because ordinary kissing could freeze their saliva and lock their lips together in an embarrassing, possibly dangerous fashion.

 However, there is far more to this simple action than many people think. The Eskimo kiss is actually called “kunik”, and it has little to do with kissing or rubbing noses together. It’s a type of intimate greeting, often practiced between couples or children and their parents. 

The greeters may look like they rub noses, but they are actually sniffing each others’ hair and cheeks (there are scent glands in human cheeks). This way, two people who haven’t seen each other can quickly remind themselves about the other person and their signature scent. 

Although the kunik is not really relatable to kissing, it is generally considered an intimate gesture that is not often done in public.

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