Ah, who doesn’t like kissing? It’s romantic, it’s intimate, it’s passionate, it’s… awkward?!
Yes, it can be weird, especially when you’re introduced to someone you don’t know and they come towards you at full force.
It’s too late to stretch out your hand as their upper body already awkwardly touches yours, they plant their lips first on one cheek, then on the other one — and then on the first one again.
THREE KISSES! HELP!
Where does this custom of cheek kissing come from?
As uncomfortable and distressing as the above situation seems, it can be worse than this.
I can’t even count the times I panicked and moved my face to one side just to get someone’s lips on the corners of my mouth. 🤢
Is it so hard to shake hands? What are the roots of this Dutch habit of three kisses on the cheek to greet and say goodbye to people?
READ MORE | Dutch Quirk #22: Give everyone three kisses to say hello
If you think those cheeky air kisses trickled down from the British Royals, you are wrong.
The Royals only hand out two kisses, as do the chic Parisians or other upper-class members in Belgium or France, for example.
Surprisingly, this affectionate custom hasn’t even been around for that long.
It is said to have come from the Belgian and French countryside and arrived in the north of the Netherlands in the 1980s.
Before that, only one kiss on the cheek or a firm handshake was the norm in terms of greeting etiquette.
Three kisses: Follow the rules to avoid disaster
But is this three-kiss policy a way to show genuine affection or just a mechanical sequence of head movements that everyone follows because that’s the way it is?
While it isn’t clear, you might as well embrace it and transform this interpersonal awkwardness into a genuine gesture coming from the heart.
However, before you throw yourself into this cheeky world of (air) kisses, take note.
The social kissing rules exist to avoid bad coordination ending up in an accidental kiss on the mouth or neck or the painful smacking of cheekbones.
If you follow this set of rules, nothing will go wrong (hopefully) when performing your cheek-kissing act:
- In general, you kiss three times when greeting friends and family (also when saying goodbye)
- You start on the right side, then move to the left cheek, and finish with a kiss on the right cheek again
- Women kiss both women and men, while men greet other men with a handshake
- Go for air kisses instead of fully planting your wet lips on your greetee’s cheek 👄
What if, even after studying these rules meticulously, you end up in a precarious kissing situation?
I’d say just laugh it off and hug it out. After all, the ice is definitely broken, and you can skip all initial formalities before starting a conversation.
Where do you stand when it comes to this Dutch custom of three kisses? Tell us in the comments below!
Editor’s Note: This article was originallypublished on 15 December 2016 but was updated for your reading pleasure in November 2023.
Alexandra Huetter is a native Austrian with a passion for traveling. Having worked in tourism, marketing and sales she finally decided to exchange her 9-to-5 job for the unpredictable yet rewarding world of freelancing. She has been working as a freelance copywriter in Amsterdam since 2011.
