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A Brief History of the Handshake

2019.11.18
  • Simon Ball
  • Culture
  • 2019
One of the most visible cultural differences between Japan and my country (the U.K.) is how people greet each other when they first meet. Even though I have lived in Japan for a long time, my first instinct when meeting someone is to put out my hand, ready to shake. But when and where did the handshake greeting begin? I did a bit of research to find out….
Of course, the handshake is pretty familiar all over the world nowadays, even if many countries don’t actually use it as a greeting, but where did handshaking start? Apparently, the origin can be traced back to Greece around 2,500 years ago. In ancient Greece (and many other countries) it was quite common to carry a weapon. People would touch their right hands together as a sign of peace. Of course, if you touch hands then you are showing that you’re not holding a weapon (unless you’re left-handed like me!)
The touching of hands seems to have changed into an aggressive arm-grab during the era of the Roman Empire. You would grab the other person’s forearm (not hand) and shake the other person’s arm to be sure that they weren’t hiding any secret weapons up their sleeve. After shaking hands (arms!) and becoming friends, it was common (as it was and is in many cultures) to then share a drink (usually alcohol) to celebrate the new friendship. This is where the ‘cheers!’ gesture comes from. People would hit their cups together very strongly so that the liquid in each cup would mix together. If one person was trying to poison the other person, the poison would end up mixing in both cups, so mixing the liquid from both cups showed that nobody was trying to poison anyone. Finally, the new friends could trust each other.
Handshaking is not just for greetings. It is also used to make a promise to another person. Making a promise with words is fine, but if you also use a handshake then it makes the promise more meaningful and powerful. The other effect of the handshake is to try to show that both people are equally respected. Both arms are level and at the same height, which is a symbol of both people being equal as humans. This is rather different from bowing, where one person is showing that they do not feel equal to the other person (for example, you bow more deeply if you are bowing to a boss).
But is the handshake becoming less popular? Apparently, yes. A recent survey in the USA shows that 49% percent of Americans sometimes choose the fist bump over a handshake greeting. I have seen this myself often among athletes such as Premier League footballers before matches. Maybe the handshake will eventually die out and be replaced by the fist bump? It’s certainly a healthier option than the traditional handshake, which, when you think about it, is an easy way for bacteria to spread from one person to another.
Maybe I’ll start using the fist bump in future!


(Photo Credit: Cytonn Photophy@Pexels.Com)


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