princessamericachavez:

In Mexico we kiss on the cheek greet each other all the time and I think it’s great and you guys should know about it a little more.

Like, there are rules. When you don’t really know someone you don’t kiss them. When you are first introduced to someone, you do. Girls and girls and girls and boys kiss-greet each other but boys like to act “macho” and just hug and low high five.

There is people you don’t like/know so much, or maybe you’re both in a hurry, so you just make a kiss sound with your lips wills you press your cheeks together. Then, there are friends who hug you through it, shortly and tightly, to show they missed you and they are happy to see you. Some people, usually if someone is interested in you romantically or just affectionately, make a point of actually pressing the kiss to your cheek but that is not really a regular thing. You notice.

When you arrive at a family or friend meeting, you are expected to go around the place kissing everyone on the cheek. Skipping or missing someone is considered very rude (like your aunt may stop taking to you rude). This happens even with less conservative people or millenials.

When people are sitting and a woman arrives, men are expected to stand up to greet her. Women bend for other women who are sitting. When a man arrives, he bends to kiss women and just shakes hands with the other men. Women are only expected to stand up to kiss a new comer if it is their elder, man or woman, or if they need to show respect to them.

Kiss greeting can have some rather awkward moments. Like glasses hitting glasses. Or someone being over enthusiastic and practically smashing their cheekbone against yours. Or (sometimes purposely) misplaced kisses that linger just at the corner of your mouth. Or that uncle’s scratchy beard. Or running into someone at the gym and one of you apologizing for not kissing the other because you are all sweaty and gross. Or pulling back from a kiss and explaining you are sick and don’t want to pass the virus to them.

Basically, this is a whole thing for people in Latinamerica, Spain, France, Germany (though Europeans make more than 1 kiss which can ensue some hilariously awkward situations when meeting Latinxs) and everyone in North America is missing it so I think you should know. For educational reasons or real life reasons or writing reasons.

Also, this whole thing happens all over again when kissing each other goodbye every time you leave a place, group of people.