The Handshake?

Question

Does anyone know how it started and why?

Answer 1

It started in Europe around the Middle Ages when men commonly bore arms such as daggers or swords. By shaking hands, it symbolises that the hand shaker is not wielding any weapon & therefore means no harm to the person he's shaking hands with.

Also, weapons are usually handled with the right hand, thus handshakes are done with the right hand.

Answer 2

In the middle ages it was started to show that you were not holding any weapons and therefore came in peace, Originally two people would grasp each others right elbow and shake, that gave them the ability to feel along the arm for weapons and shook loose anything not immediatly found. Later the handshake moved to the wrist because that was a convenient place to hide weapons or in the old west days cheating cards. No one is really sure how it moved to the hand, specially since the wrist was also perfered in the plague days because the hand often help much more germs than the wrist did.

Answer 3

The handshake started out as a gesture of trust between warring parties. By keeping your left hand on your sword (on the left side of the body because you always draw from left across your body) and extending the right hand, grabbing the other person's right hand, there is no way to draw your sword and strike the other person. This may be one reason people discriminate against left handed people. You should always have someone with you just in case the other person has a henchmen that will strike you while you are in the handshake. That is why the leaders shake hands while their subordinates watch.

Answer 4

NO clue...

But I do know that NEVER shake like a pansy !! Always, when shaking hands, give it your all... make it firm yet comfortable! It will reveal strength within you...

If you have a pansy handshake ONLY YOU can change it by conscientiously doing a stronger one every time... Practice with a friend... May sound odd but In the real world, the small towns still can pick out a good person by his or her handshake!

Happy Sunday! : )

Answer 5

"Shake hands and come out fighting." It's the referee's final counsel to two pugilists about to beat each other's brains out with clenched fists. Even outside the ring, a handshake can be a little off-putting. When one returns to the West from an extended sojourn in Bharat or elsewhere in Asia, the hand suddenly thrust forward can seem more ominous than friendly, especially if the hand offered is that of a stranger. Of course, one soon acclimatises and the menacing aspect of this salutation subsides.

Perhaps that moment of intimidation derives from the history of the handshake. According to one anthropologist, the handshake evolved in medieval Europe, during the times of knights. It seems not all were laudable Lancelots or gallant Gallahads. More than a few would approach opponents with concealed weapons and when within striking distance do the needful, driving dagger or striking sword into the unguarded paladin.

To fend off the fear of a foe's foul foil, knights took to offering their open and visibly empty hand to each other. It was a kind of surety, a gesture of trust which said, "See, I am unarmed, so you may safely let me approach." As the story goes, soon the gesture itself took on meaning and the less noble, less lethal man on the street adopted the handshake as the proper way to greet others.

In much of the world today, people do not shake hands when they meet. They may hug formally or kiss one another on the cheek, as in eastern Europe and Arab states. They may bow softly, eyes turned to the ground, as in Japan and China. The Hawaiian greeting, termed "honi," consists of placing the nostril gently beside that of the person greeted, a kind of sharing of breath, which is life and Pran(a).

For, Hindu(s), of course, the greeting of choice is "Namaste," the two hands pressed together and held near the heart with the head gently bowed as one says, "Namaste." Thus it is both a spoken greeting and a gesture, a Mantr(a) and a Mudr(a). The prayerful hand position is a Mudr(a) called Anjali, from the root Anj, "to adorn, honor, celebrate or anoint." The hands held in union signify the oneness of an apparently dual cosmos, the bringing together of spirit and matter, or the self meeting the Self. It has been said that the right hand represents the higher nature or that which is divine in us, while the left hand represents the lower, worldly nature.

In Sanskrit "Namas" means, "bow, obeisance, reverential salutation." It comes from the root Nam, which carries meanings of bending, bowing, humbly submitting and becoming silent. "Te" means "to you." Thus "namaste" means "I bow to you." the act of greeting is called "Namaskaram," "Namaskara" and "Namaskar" in the varied languages of the subcontinent.

Namaste has become a veritable icon of what is Bharatiya. Indeed, there must be a Bharatiya law which requires every travel brochure. calendar and poster to include an image of someone with palms pressed together, conveying to the world Bharat's hospitality, spirituality and graceful consciousness. You knew all that, of course, but perhaps you did not know that there can be subtle ways of enhancing the gesture, as in the West one might shake another's hand too strongly to impress and overpower them or too briefly, indicating the withholding of genuine welcome.

In the case of Namaste, a deeper veneration is sometimes expressed by bringing the fingers of the clasped palms to the forehead, where they touch the brow, the site of the mystic Third Eye. A third form of namaste brings the palms completely above the head, a gesture said to focus consciousness in the subtle space just above the Brahmarandhra, the aperture in the Crown Chakr(a). This form is so full of reverence it is reserved for the Almighty and the holiest of Sat Guru(s).

It is always interesting, often revealing and occasionally enlightening to muse about the everyday cultural traits and habits each nation and community evolves, for in the little things our big ideas about life find direct and personal expression. Take, for instance, the different ways that American and Japanese tool-makers approach the same task. A saw for cutting lumber, if designed in the U.S., is made in such a way that the carpenter's stroke away from his body does the cutting. But in Japan saws are engineered so that cutting takes place as the carpenter draws the saw toward himself. A small detail, but it yields a big difference.

The American saw can, if leaned into, generate more power, while the Japanese saw provides more control and refinement in the cut, requiring surprisingly less effort. Each has its place in the global toolbox. each speaks — like the handshake and namaste greetings — of an underlying perception of man's relationship with things.

In the West we are outgoing, forceful, externalized. We are told in USA (By telelphone
company) by Ma Bell to "reach out and touch somebody." We are unabashedly acquisitive, defining our progress in life by how much we have — how much wealth, influence, stored up knowledge, status or whatever. Every culture exhibits these traits to some extent, but in the east Mother is there to remind us, "Reach in and touch the Self." here we are taught to be more introspective, more concerned with the quality of things than their quantity, more attuned with the interior dimension of life.

So, there you have it, the whole of Eastern and Western culture summed up in the handshake which reaches out horizontally to greet another, and Namaste which reaches in vertically to acknowledge that, in truth, that there is no other.

As a test of how these two greetings differ, imagine you are magically confronted with the Divine. The Paramatma, Almighty, walks up to you on the street. What do you do? Reach out to shake His hand? Probably not. Though suitable between man and man, it;' an unseemly expression between man and Paramatma. We never shake hands with Paramatma. I mean, what if your palms are sweating?

So you namaste instead. The reason it feels natural to namaste before Paramatma is that it is, in its very essence, a spiritual gesture, not a worldly one. By a handshake we acknowledge our equality with others. We reveal our humanity. We convey how strong we are, how nervous, how aggressive or passive. There is bold physicality to it. For these and other reasons, Popes never shake hands. Kings never shake hands. Even mothers don't shake hands with their own children.

Answer 6

The right hand gives and the left hand recieves . We shake with the right hand to say , " I give to you and you give to me " .

Answer 7

It was a way to greet someone to show you had no weapon in your hand.

Answer 8

i dunno how it started but i know that u have to touch the one u meet, even when u kiss some1 friendly u have to put ur hand on his shoulder, arm or anywhere so that he/she feels ur love or caring so shaking hands is the easiest way!