Ever stopped to wonder why we toast a drink, shake hands or want to snog each other? Here are the answers.
Shaking hands.
This universal custom dates back to ancient times. Depictions of handshakes have been found in archaeological ruins from the 4th century BC.
In that era it evolved as a gesture of peace, demonstrating that the hand holds no weapon. Today, of course, it is a way of establishing intimacy for the first time, or acting as a symbolic bond when an agreement is reached.
Via: youtube.com
Nod for yes...
...shake for no.
None other than Charles Darwin looked into this. In his 1913 book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals he put forward the theory that head nods and shakes are both, to an extent, innate.
Babies will typically move their head to the side to refuse food, and nod in approval - though as with much child development theory, it is difficult to say how much of this is also learned behaviour. One thing Darwin did discover is that, although both gestures are typical to most cultures, there is one example where the rules are exactly reversed - Bulgaria.
Via: Tumblr.com
Clapping hands.
Clapping to signify approval probably originated in ancient Rome. Plays written by Plautus and Terence including the imperative 'plaudite', which was a prompt for the audience to clap. The idea survived the dark ages then came to prominence again in 16th century France, where 'claques' - groups of professional clappers - were hired to by theatres and operas to make the shows seem more successful. Most of Europe soon followed suit.
Interestingly though, applause is considered an example of learned, rather than innate, behaviour. Alternative methods - such as stomping feet or hollering - are used by crowds to express approval in other cultures around the world (even the Romans alternated it with finger snapping and toga waving). In the wild, hands are clapped to signify danger or alert others to food, not to express pleasure.
Source: Tumblr.com
