Kiss Day is a holiday observed annually on the 13th of February, which just so happens to be the day before Valentine’s Day. The word “kiss” comes from the Middle English words “kussen” and “kissen,” which come from the Proto-Germanic word “kussijanan.” Although anthropologists disagree on whether kissing is a learned or instinctual behavior, one thing is for certain: this act has been around for a very, very long time.

Probably since the dawn of humanity. That’s how important kissing has been to human beings throughout history and why people should take the time to observe this holiday with their significant other. It’s a great way to start off the Valentine’s Day season.

The History of Kiss Day

At this moment in time, we’re unable to uncover the origins of this holiday. During the course of our research, we found the origins of a lot of other kissing holidays, but not this one. As usual, we’ll continue to try to find the origins of this holiday, but until we do, we hope the following pieces of additional information on this holiday and the subject of kissing more than make up for that fact.

Random Facts About Kissing

Anyone who has read any number of our holiday articles knows that there is nothing that we like more than digging up some random facts about a particular subject. So no one should be surprised that we’re going to do the same thing with the topic of “kissing.”

Since we couldn’t find out the origins of this holiday, we thought that we’d find out everything we could about kissing. The following facts are what we uncovered and would like to now share with everyone reading about Kiss Day.

• Approximately 60 seconds of kissing can burn around 3 calories.
• Kissing helps to fight tooth decay because the extra saliva produced cleans out a person’s mouth.
• Of course, kissing can also spread upwards of 80 million new bacteria to a person’s mouth.
• The average person spends about 336 hours of their life kissing.
• Just like fingerprints, no two lip prints are exactly the same.
• Kissing can add years to a person’s life.
• People in Italy and France kiss, on average, seven times a day.
• People in Germany only kiss four times per day, on average.
• Kissing increases heart rate and results in more oxygen being delivered to the brain.
• During a kiss, people’s pupils spontaneously contract.
• People who kiss regularly are less likely to have allergies.

Observing Kiss Day

This is the perfect holiday to give your significant other a passionate kiss right before Valentine’s Day. Of course, a kiss isn’t always a way to express feelings imbued with an erotic element.

Depending on how it’s used, a kiss can be used to represent affection, joy, compassion, or even sympathy. And many religions use kissing as a ritualistic element. How the kiss is used will determine how this holiday is celebrated. And anyone who is observing this holiday is encouraged to spread the word about it using the hashtag #KissDay.