We all like counting down toward the New Year. It's fun, especially when you're in a room filled with other people, who are doing the same thing. There's just something about doing traditions that we humans particularly love. And during New Year's Eve, one such tradition is the New Year's Eve kiss.
A few suggestions as to the possible origins of the New Year's Eve kiss are two winter festivals: ancient Romans' Saturnalia, and the Vikings' Hogmanay. Romans had usually done parties with a lot of drinking, and that's why some assume that kissing had been involved.
Hogmanay, on the other hand, was a tradition that intentionally included kissing as a way of wishing the other person good luck or a good new year. Some experts have also suggested another possible source being Medieval literature, particularly Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
In the poem, people used to play a game on New Year's Day, in which the ladies who lose must give something to the men, happily. Many have implied that the "something" was a kiss.
Why the tradition continues to this day is simply because it's tradition and we like traditions. But there has been some indication that the New Year's Eve kiss was a form of inviting good luck, most likely in relationships, for the rest of the new year.
Whether or not the New Year's Eve kiss actually brings about good luck to people all depends on perspective coupled with appropriate action. However, a healthy reminder for us all is that whenever one does try to kiss someone else, it should be consensual.
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