Crazy Greetings

Some time in your life, if you haven’t already, you are bound to visit a place you have never visited before. If you are reading this and have never experienced this then you are a hermit or a new born baby with the amazing ability of accessing the internet and reading as well.

Anyway, with this occasional visiting of far off lands it is imperative to think of the way people are welcomed in such lands. For example, in Hawaii (although I have never been) when you are welcomed in this tropical paradise you are adorned with a lei, or you are leied as some like to say. But this then leads to snickering and more innuendos, which could be a whole different blog topic. I regress. If you are popular, you could receive hundreds of leis. If you are like me, you are lucky to get one.

Another popular greeting around the world is kissing. Of course everybody knows the cheek kissing in France (not to be confused with the American “French Kiss.”) Now this is commonly done in two but can get crazy up to four or six! That’s a little too much for me. In Latin America it is not uncommon to greet people with a single cheek kiss; especially if you ARE single! Here in the United States we kiss on greeting (sometimes) but we seem to have better aim then most and connect on the lips!

Finally, but not the last kind of greeting is that of the pineapple! Crazy you say? Well the pineapple has been known to be a simple of welcome and friendship since the Colonial times. The pineapple was even used in the woodcarvings around the home; bed posts, door frames, outside the front door, etc. It would even be given as a give to the visitor to help them feel welcome.

So the next time you head off to some distant land like Iowa, look for the crazy welcomes. Or if you are expecting out-of-townees, place a lei around a pineapple and give it a kiss; your crazy guests will have no choice but to feel the love!