the statues and pictures of the saints.

There is a kind of plant that was held sacred by the goddesses of beauty, love, and fertility among the ancient Scandinavians, and among the Assyrian Babylonians, or the Neo-Babylonians. It was the custom that a girl whom a young man met beneath this "sacred" plant must not refuse him a kiss. And it was the custom among the Babylonians for a woman, once in her life, to enter the temple of the goddess Mylitta and stand beneath the aforesaid sacred plant and await the first man who came in to her and sought her favor — and she would yield herself to him without condition or restriction...

In the Middle Ages the common people used to kiss the foot of the noble or the feudal chieftain, or the hem of his garment. And this remained the way of the members of the lower and middle classes in England, when they wished to show their esteem and reverence for their temporal and spiritual superiors, until the opening of the eighteenth century, while kissing on the cheeks took place between members of one and the same class. In the New Testament of Holy Scripture we read that Mary Magdalene, that sinful woman, fell at the feet of Jesus and kissed them. As for Samuel, he kissed the cheek of King Saul when he came to greet him. And it is no secret that Christ the Lord himself kissed the feet of his disciples, to set them an example of humility and forbearance. Some followers of the Western Church still kiss the feet of the Pope, the supreme head of the Church, for a blessing, in keeping with the old tradition they inherited along with all else they inherited. And today, when a Pope dies, shoes of red color are placed on his feet for the faithful to kiss.

The ancient Arabs, the Turks, the Persians, and the other Eastern peoples used to kiss the ground in the presence of a chief, a leader, or a prince... Then they gave up this custom by degrees, and took to bowing before the great. It is known of the Buddhists that on their way to "Lhasa," the capital of the land of Tibet and the sacred city to which they make pilgrimage, they press their heads in the dust some thirty thousand times over the last six miles of the road that leads to it.

In these days of ours the

handshake has taken the place of kissing the face or the cheek. The knights and contestants of old would kiss one another before beginning a contest; today, the players of racquet-ball (tennis), the boxers, and the rest shake hands just before the match and after it.

Today the Moroccans greet one another with a quick handshake. The common people

of Rome used to show their respect and honor for the emperor

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