Union of Soviet Smoochiest Republics
February 14, 2024 12:25 PM Subscribe
A photo essay on the same theme. Includes a reference to the famous 1990 Berlin street art.
The lip contact in these kisses sure looks surprising to me. Do any other European(ish) cultures do that?
posted by Nelson at 12:47 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]
The lip contact in these kisses sure looks surprising to me. Do any other European(ish) cultures do that?
posted by Nelson at 12:47 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]
Do Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs know about this?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:06 PM on February 14 [5 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:06 PM on February 14 [5 favorites]
Do Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs know about this?
they are not afraid
[Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom]
posted by chavenet at 1:49 PM on February 14 [6 favorites]
they are not afraid
[Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom]
posted by chavenet at 1:49 PM on February 14 [6 favorites]
I had a history teacher who was originally from the USSR. I think he left in the late 1960s.
Anyway, during one lecture he joked about how, commencing with his arrival at the airport, he was full of comradely hugs and kisses for everybody he met and how it took a year or so for him to break the habit.
posted by house-goblin at 2:33 PM on February 14
Anyway, during one lecture he joked about how, commencing with his arrival at the airport, he was full of comradely hugs and kisses for everybody he met and how it took a year or so for him to break the habit.
posted by house-goblin at 2:33 PM on February 14
my god, help me to survive this deadly love!
posted by tclark at 7:39 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]
posted by tclark at 7:39 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]
The lip contact in these kisses sure looks surprising to me. Do any other European(ish) cultures do that?
Yeah, that surprised me too. 20th century European men giving each other comradely cheek kisses surprises me not one bit, but those are really a lot closer to the midline of the face than I would've expected.
posted by jackbishop at 6:37 AM on February 15
Yeah, that surprised me too. 20th century European men giving each other comradely cheek kisses surprises me not one bit, but those are really a lot closer to the midline of the face than I would've expected.
posted by jackbishop at 6:37 AM on February 15
I mentioned over in the Cousins thread that I grew up among Greeks, but also Russians: The Greek and Russian Orthodox churches are in communion (unless you are talking about ROCOR and the Exile Synod of Autocephalous churches, and uh let's not get into that).
Anyway, there's a lot of cheek-kissing in Orthodox Christianity, but the Russians I grew up with in the 80s were all-in on it. There's a service on "Cheese-fare Sunday" (roughly the equivalent of CofE's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day: the last day you can eat dairy until Easter, so you tend to make stuff from all you have left so it won't spoil) where you go around a queue kissing everyone in the church, and when you hit the end of the queue you stand in it for the folks behind you to pass by. You're basically asking everyone for forgiveness with this gesture, and it's reciprocal (so the priest is asking your forgiveness at the start of the queue, etc.)
I never found the French cheek-kiss thing terribly awkward as a result of this, but I was raised that this was an expression of the Trinity, so you do it three times. Thus I reflexively add an awkward lunge every time before realising what I'm doing.
The kiss on the lips is still striking as a gesture in the Socialist Fraternal Kiss, to me. And it seems like there was a lot of Kremlinology around how fervently a Soviet Premier would greet a client state's leader, throughout the 70s.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:58 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]
Anyway, there's a lot of cheek-kissing in Orthodox Christianity, but the Russians I grew up with in the 80s were all-in on it. There's a service on "Cheese-fare Sunday" (roughly the equivalent of CofE's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day: the last day you can eat dairy until Easter, so you tend to make stuff from all you have left so it won't spoil) where you go around a queue kissing everyone in the church, and when you hit the end of the queue you stand in it for the folks behind you to pass by. You're basically asking everyone for forgiveness with this gesture, and it's reciprocal (so the priest is asking your forgiveness at the start of the queue, etc.)
I never found the French cheek-kiss thing terribly awkward as a result of this, but I was raised that this was an expression of the Trinity, so you do it three times. Thus I reflexively add an awkward lunge every time before realising what I'm doing.
The kiss on the lips is still striking as a gesture in the Socialist Fraternal Kiss, to me. And it seems like there was a lot of Kremlinology around how fervently a Soviet Premier would greet a client state's leader, throughout the 70s.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:58 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]
Russian influencers hunted down & forced to apologize for kissing
posted by Nelson at 7:42 AM on February 16
A pair of young women, 19 and 24, were hunted down by Russian police after a video they shot and posted to TikTok and Instagram showed them kissing passionately in a pizzeria just down the road from one of Vladimir Putin’s official residences.A recent event, part of Russia's oppression of LGBT people. Needless to say these old Soviet Kisses in the post here were not intended as romantic or sexual.
The women were rounded up in the city of Krasnodar in southwest Russia and forced to apologize on camera while being lectured about their “crimes”. They paid fines totaling more than $3000.
posted by Nelson at 7:42 AM on February 16
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posted by njohnson23 at 12:34 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]