Celebrating Valentine’s Day with kisses (2024)

Words by The Animals Observatory | Feb 14, 2023

Valentine’s Day must be filled with kisses, one of the most meaningful ways of showing love: Friendly, romantic, caring, and spontaneous. Some biologists state that kissing is an instinctive reaction as well as a cultural habit. We can’t avoid showing affection to our children, and we really love it when they kiss us!

Did you know thatthe first kisses in history are believed to be between mothers and children? Anthropological studies suggest that it all began when the hominid females fed their babies. These may be only theories, of course, but they sure make sense.

Nevertheless,the first registered kisses come from India, from Vedic Sanskrit literature dating from 1500 B.C, which describes a kind of kissing custom that consisted of rubbing and pressing noses together as a sign of love. Does it sound familiar?

Speaking of rubbing noses, this is also similar tohow Inuit kiss. Specifically, they press the tip of one’s nose against the cheek of their kissing partner.

Video by @MiokiMiokiMiAmor, @Sheila.Makes, @pnrvrdrkrmn, TheJNR,@MillawKids, @AnneliesqQYF, @Me_And_My_Butts, @AhojIris, and @JoniAndTheLads.

There are124 recorded kinds of kisses. To come up with that number, a neuroscientist spent two years traveling to airports, train stations, and even beaches around the world, places where people usually kiss. He witnessed some beautiful farewell and reunion kisses.

In the dark ages, when most people couldn’t read or write,they signed any kind of legal document by drawing an X and kissing it. That is where the X we use to mark a kiss comes from

Thelongest kiss world recordwas set in 2013 in a kissathon. The winners kissed for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds. We can just say: Wow.

Up to amillion kissesare estimated to be given on anyValentine’s Day. Romantic kisses, caring kisses, all kinds of them!

Not even half of all cultures kiss using their lips. According to a research conducted by Nevada University using a representative sample of 168 known cultures,only 46% of societes kiss each other on the lips in a romantic sense.

Did you know any of these amazing facts about kissing? Valentine’s Day seems to be a good day to share this information, right?

Pictures by

Moreover, this day we also wish to highlight family kisses, so some members ofour communityhave been kind enough to share some pretty cool images of cute, caring kisses. We hope you enjoy them and feel inspired on such a lovely day!

We want to thank@MiokiMiokiMiAmor,@Sheila.Makes,@pnrvrdrkrmn,TheJNR,@MillawKids,@AnneliesqQYF,@Me_And_My_Butts,@AhojIris, and@JoniAndTheLadsfor kissing and sharing these endearing moments with their children. We feel truly fortunate to have them as part of our community.

Have a fantastic Valentine’s Day!