In Argentina every April 13th the Kiss Day. Immortalized in novels, movies, songs, cards and emojis, few gestures express love and affection so eloquently.
As with other ephemeris popularized in the last two decades, there is no certainty about why is it celebrated on April 13 on our borders. It is often attributed to the latter Guinness record for longest kiss, but this award was not awarded in April, but on February 15, 2013 to the Thais Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat. Their kiss lasted 58 hours and 35 minutes.
The winners had already obtained a record before, in 2011, in another competition of this type. They had been surpassed in 2012 by Nonthawat Charoenkaesornsin and Thanakorn Sitthiamthong, the only gay couple who held the curious award until February of the following year, when the Tiranarats once again kept their lips together for more than two days.
But in July of last year the Guinness organization issued a statement and announced that it would “deactivate” this award from its list; that is to say, it’s no longer available so other people can compete for a new record.
The decision arose because “the competition had become too dangerous” and it would imply more risks for the participants to try to achieve a “superlative kiss” of these characteristics. Fourteen years earlier, on April 8, 1999, the Israeli couple Karmit Tzubera and Dror Orpaz had obtained the record in Tel Aviv for a kiss of 30 hours and 45 minutes. They got $2,500 and a trip around the world, but they almost fainted after the effort and ended up in the hospital.
Thais Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat hold the Guinness Record for the longest kiss in the world. It lasted 58 hours and 35 minutes. Photo: AP/ Sakchai Lalit.
With or without records, the anniversary remains. In the United Kingdom it has been celebrated on July 6 every year since the end of the 20th century.
On one date or another, the objective of Kiss Day is only one: honor the act of kissing as a sign of affection and love. It is limited to this meaning, since the immensity of connotations that the kiss can have – from the fearsome kiss of death (kiss of death) of the gangsters to the sign of devotion of “kissing the ring” of an ecclesiastical authority—they surpass this despite realizing the magnitude contained in this simple movement of the lips.
The kiss: the barrage of body chemistry
The doctor and sexologist Beatriz Literat explains to Clarion: “During and after a loving, friendly, reunion or reconciliation kiss, body chemistry transforms into a true and healthy elixir of youth.”
In detail, the specialist (@beatrizliterat) describes how our body reacts to contact: “In a passionate kiss, motivated by tenderness or passion, a discharge of neurotransmitters and substances such as dopaminewhich generates euphoria and excitement; serotonin, which induces a state of surrender and calm; and then, during the kiss, there is oxytocin releasewhich generates pleasure and happiness.”
In a kiss, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin are released. Photo: Shutterstock illustration
If we wanted to make a recipe to increase pleasure during a sexual encounter, kisses would be an ingredient that could not be missing. Literat indicates that, together with caresses and other body contacts, they awaken and sharpen sensations, which, finally, “motorizes and increases the total sexual response.”
Less and less kisses? What to do as a couple
Some people kiss more and others less. There is no proven correlation between the frequency of a couple’s kisses and the age of its members. The golden rule is only one: there must always be consent.
But what happens in couples who don’t kiss for a long time? Is it a warning sign? Can a sexual-affective bond in which they don’t usually kiss be very good?
Always, before any kiss, there must be consent. Photo: Istock.
First of all, it will depend on each relationship and its members, but the benefits of kissing another person on the mouth do not only go through the body. The psychologist and sexologist Lucia Baez Romano need to Clarion That, if a first kiss is foundational in the history of a couple, it is not only because of social conventions or learned behaviors. The gesture, in itself, has a lot of power. “A consensual kiss greatly activates the erotic issue, it is a very interesting situation. It’s not just the mouth, it’s the lips, the tongue, closing your eyes, freeing yourself to feel what you want to feel,” she details.
While there is nothing written about a single “correct way” to kiss your partner, Báez Romano (@luciabaezromano) offers a advice to resume this activity. “I would recommend that you start little by little, you can pass your tongue over your lips with the other person’s mouth closed, make small bites on the lower and upper lip. Your own or your partner’s fingers can also be used to mark the outline of the mouth,” she explains.
In the opinion of the sexologist and psychologist, the central idea is that kisses and the desire to give and receive them are seen as a good symptom of the state of the couple and a desire to foster a rapprochement.
Therefore, this Saturday, whether with a “pico” or a French kiss, many will be able to make Córtazar’s words of “playing the cyclops” their own or hum the Mexican bolerista Consuelo Velázquez and ask for just one thing: “Kiss me, kiss me a lot”.