Why Do We Shake Hands?

Mr. Beat explains the handshake. Why do we do it? Will we ever stop shaking hands?

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Creative commons credits:

Kance

Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris

Adam Sandler thinks we're never gonna shake hands again

Generally speaking, the two main reasons why we shake hands are

1) for greetings or farewells

2) to show we have reached an agreement or made a deal

So when we first meet up with our friends, especially when we haven’t seen them in awhile, we often shake hands. When we leave our friends, one of the last things we sometimes do is shake their hands.

Anyway, we often do it to introduce ourselves.

And we do it to show we agree with someone, or made a deal with that person. You know, like a contract. We shake hands to congratulate others, or to thank them. It’s a gesture that shows trust and respect, which is why you see athletes shaking hands at sporting events.

Now, there are parts of the world where they don’t shake hands as often. There are also other parts of the world where they don’t even do it at all, and we’ll get to that in a moment, but the vast majority of human beings around the world regularly shake hands with other humans.

So when did it start? Well, there is this which might just be the earliest documented handshake in history. That was way back in the ninth century B.C. And we also know the ancient Greeks shook hands as early as the fifth century BC.

But likely, humans were shaking hands long before the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Greeks. So why? Well, some historians believe the handshake originated as a way to show others that your hand holds no weapon, and by making contact with another’s hand, you would not be stealing their weapon. It was a gesture of peace. The Romans later made the practice of handshakes more widespread.

Handshakes quickly spread around the world, but they looked different in different places. Historians often credit the root of the modern handshake with the Quakers of the 1600s, who valued the handshake as a better way to show folks you meet that you’re not better than them.

Today, while folks in nearly every country on the planet shake hands, there are alternatives to show greetings and mutual respect.

For example, there is the customary Hindu greeting of Namaste. And just straight up bowing is common in places like Japan.

Meanwhile, in Nazi Germany, at least according to Jojo Rabbit.

But again, actually right now most people are NOT shaking hands due to this current pandemic. But what about after the pandemic? Is the handshake going away any time soon? There is evidence that the handshake was losing popularity before this pandemic. Meanwhile, the fist bump has been rising in popularity, and so has the magical elbow bump since the pandemic began. Still, we’ve been through plenty of pandemics before, and the handshake has persisted. I really don’t think it’s going away any time soon. We’ve been doing it for literally thousands of years, and it is such a pervasive way to quickly show trust, respect, and love.

Now, if they’re close friends or family, obviously we might hug them instead.

#covid19 #shakinghands #socialstudies