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Why do Xs at the end of a letter signify kisses? During the Middle Ages, when many people were not able to read or write, documents were signed using an X. The signatory kissed the X as an agreement or an oath to undertake the obligations mentioned in the document. The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous.
Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast? Back in olden days, it used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering them a poisoned drink. To prove that a drink was safe to a guest, it became tradition for a guest to pour a small amount of his drink into host’s. Both men would drink at the same time and when a guest trusted his host, he would clink or touch his glass against the host’s.
You may know that a baker’s dozen is usually thirteen of an item, but how did this come about? At one time bakers began skimping on the size of their bread loaves so they could make extra money. Laws were brought into place to stop this and bakers were no longer allowed to sell undersized bread. Unfortunately, this placed the baker into a bit of a predicament – what if his loaves were accidentally undersized? He would be breaking the law. So just to make sure, bakers threw in an extra loaf for each dozen purchased, just to make sure they were up to the legal limit.
When departing someone’s home in Sweden, it is considered bad manners to put on your coat before you leave the house. This suggests that you can’t wait to leave. So it is important in Sweden is to wait until you step out of the door, before you put your coat in. Then if you leave Sweden and travel onto Russia, just remember to that it is considered quite rude to shake hands across the threshold. Speaking of shaking hands, in Germany it is impolite to shake hands while you still have the other hand in your pocket. Men shake hands with women in Mali, only if women offer their hand first. Usually they shake with the right hand, and touch the elbow of the other person with their left hand. But in Thailand the left hand is believed to be unclean so the people there do not eat with their left hand. And also in Thailand, they consider it bad manners to point at humans with only one finger. Grasping one’s ear lobe between the forefinger and the thumb is a sign of appreciation in Brazil, while holding one’s ear signifies sincerity or repentance in India.
Christians often display the symbol of a fish to show their faith. Some people assume it is because the Bible calls the Apostles fishers of men. This is not so. It is because the first letter in each word of the Greek phrase which means Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, is "Ichthus" which is the Greek word for fish. It was a almost like an early logo form and dates back to the 2nd century AD.
I used to love the game hopscotch when I was a child. The stone that is used in that game is the scotch and of course you hop from one marked section to another. The game is very old and was originally a Christian game. At first hopscotch consisted of various drawings on that ground that represented the journey of the soul from earth to heaven. The topmost square was marked as heaven and everlasting glory. Over the years it lost its original meaning and is now just a child’s game.
Handkerchiefs were used by Romans who generally wore 2 of them, one tied around the neck or tucked into the waist and the other on the left wrist. Handkerchiefs were also used the Renaissance. For a time in the 15th century, the handkerchief was only allowed to be used by the nobility and there were even laws preventing anyone using them.
Does anyone every remember playing cat’s cradle? That’s the game when you make figures with string between your fingers. Ethnologists became puzzled when they found that it is played in almost every culture, in people scattered widely throughout the world. These included the Maoris of New Zealand, Africans, Arctic Eskimos and Northern American Indians. Perhaps this was a favourite game for Noah and his family while they waited out the flood in the ark. It would explain a lot.