Global Etiquette of Parting Ways

“An English woman shakes hands with a man of her acquaintance, while in Spain she always gives her hand to be kissed.” – During the late 19th C. Gilded Age, wealthy American men adopted the custom of kissing a lady’s hand. It was often seen at the time being done by the men of the aristocracy in Europe. American women found it charming at the time. Many still do to this day! – Above, Pinterest image of Larry Russell and Marian Brook of HBO’s “The Gilded Age”

Of Kissing and Weeping

An English journal prints the following: “A very disagreeable habit of the King of Portugal is that he kisses his male friends. The Princes of our reigning house all do this, and of course it is common enough abroad; but, thank heaven, so far this nasty looking (no matter how really innocent) habit has never become fashionable in this country. 

It is of course all a mere question of etiquette, but let us fervently pray that Englishmen when they meet with or part from their friends will never get to think it the correct thing to kiss one another. Etiquette in parting varies all over the world. In America the men shake hands and the women kiss one another and sometimes cry, for the American ladies are champion ‘weepists.’ 

In France and in Italy, even more the women weep, while the men kiss and hug one another almost as vigorously as if they were in a wrestling match. An English woman shakes hands with a man of her acquaintance, while in Spain she always gives her hand to be kissed. It makes the same sensation in Madrid for a man to take a woman’s hand and shake it as it would in London for a foreigner to seize a lady's hand and kiss it.” – Humboldt Democrat, 1896

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia