Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1898 — SOME QUEER GREETINGS. [ARTICLE]

SOME QUEER GREETINGS.

Methods of Falntations in Vogue in Various Countries. “How do you do?” we say as we meet a friend whom we have not seen for some time, and the question la almost invariably accompanied by a shake of the hand which Is cordial or cold, long or short, hearty or indifferent, according as the hearts back of the liands are more or less attached one to the other. This is our common greeting, but our brethren of other lands have some oddities of salutation, though no doubt the feelings back of the form are jvery similar the world around. I The French and German people wave one custom in common, though they are not on the best of terms in some respects. Gentlemen who are good friends kiss each other on the cheek when meeting, and It is only courtesy for gentlemen to kiss the hands of their lady friends by way of greeting. Russia has the same custom, ami to unfamiliar eyes the spectacle of two beared “mujika” embracing each other tenderly upon the street Is rather mirth-provoking, to say the least. Also the Arabs of the desert, stately and imposing figures in their flowing robes and many folded draperies, their belts full of daggers and pistols ami other war-like gear, these stalwart men bug and kiss each other with all the effusiveness ascribed to the average school girl, at the same time making a host of inquiries about each other’s health, past and present and prospects for the future. A China man who happens to be riding dismounts and leads his horse past one whom he considers his social superior or equal. His neighbor of the Laud of cherry bloesoms, the Mikado’s empire, kicks off his straw or wooden sandals, crosses his hands upon his breast, in an attitude of supplication, and cries, “Spare me!” as though lids brad-hatted vis-a-vis, who perhaps is his next-door neighbor and a very’ good friend* was the great and powerful Mikado himself, who had only to say the word ami his head would roll in the du»L The implied meaning of this salutation is an outgrowth of the exaggerated poldteness for which Japan is famous. The natives of Arabia Petrea bravely put cheek to cheek and pass on about Jheir business without speuking. The Burmese, with delicate flattery, pretend to smell of each other’s faces, pronouuce them sweet and ask for a smell. The turbaned Turk crosses his 1 wauls upon his breast and makes a profound obeisance, or “salaam,” thus showing his deep regard without coming in contact personally with its object, and the savages of the Australian bush practice the singular custom of sticking out tibelr tongues at each other in a frank fashion that would delight the heart of a physician, no doubt. To prostrate one’s self before another and lie with face to the dust Is the salutation of an inferior in Dahomey In Africa to a superior. This abject crawling upon the ground, no doubt, first began in fear, and is now held as a ceremony of recognition. While Western nations Insist on the uncovering of the head in token of respect, In India it has always been the feet that must be uncovered before the royal presence.