common with us between man and man as well as between persons of opposite sexes. In guilds it was customary for the members to greet each other "with hearty handshakes and smacking kisses," and, on the conclusion of a meal, people thanked and kissed both their hosts and hostesses. In a description of a wedding in the olden time in the district of Voer in Denmark we read:
"When they had eaten, the parish clerk got up first, put his arms round the parson's neck, and kissed him on the mouth, saying: Tak for mad, hr. pastor (Thanks for your hospitality, sir priest). Then the parson planted himself against a chest of drawers, and all the women, old and young, went up to him, one after the other, and kissed him on the mouth. Some of the old goodies could not quite reach him, for the priest was a big, tall man, and they had actually to climb on to his boots, though he stooped down to them slightly." Peder Havgård said that he would not have cared much to be in the parson's place, for it was a mean and poor country thereabouts, and some of the women were very shabbily-dressed and dirty-looking.
If we glance outside Denmark it appears
