Why and how did Eskimo's "nose-rubbing" take the place of lip kissing?

It is not a prelude to sex. It is not even “kissing”; it is a greeting.

“The act known as eskimo kissing in modern western culture is loosely based on a traditional Inuit greeting called a kunik.[1]

A kunik is a form of expressing affection, usually between family members and loved ones, that involves pressing the nose and upper lip against the skin (commonly the cheeks or forehead) and breathing in, causing the loved one’s skin or hair to be suctioned against the nose and upper lip.[2] A common misconception is that the practice arose so that Inuit could kiss without their mouths freezing together. In fact, it is a non-erotic form of greeting that serves as an intimate way of greeting one another for people who, when they meet, often have little except their nose and eyes exposed.

When early explorers of the Arctic first witnessed this behavior they dubbed it Eskimo kissing. In its western form it consists of two people rubbing noses together.”

Source

The Maori do something similar in New Zealand, but they don’t rub noses they press them together -

This is called “Hongi”.

A Hongi is a traditional Māori greeting in New Zealand. It is done by pressing one’s nose to another person at an encounter.

It is still used at traditional meetings among members of the Māori people and on major ceremonies.

In the hongi (traditional greeting), the ha or breath of life is exchanged and intermingled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongi

You may not be aware – “Eskimo” is a term they strongly dislike. They prefer to be called “Inuit” (or other tribe name, depending on location). Kind of like how it’s not really nice to go around calling black people ‘Negroes’.

@MissAnthrope Aye, Eskimo I believe means ’‘cold meat eater’’, (Which they did, since they didn’t have fire.) while Inuit, what they call themselves, means ’‘the world’’, since they used to think they were the only ones around.

To answer the actual question, I’ve no clue. But kissing creates moisture, and I wouldn’t want that on my lips in minus forty and then end up with horribly chapped lips. :/

I’m not really sure but I bet they started doing that so their lips wouldn’t get frozen together.

And Squaw translated means something similar to cunt…not a term most Native American women like to be referred to. @Symbeline Miss Anthrope is correct…there are alot of assumptions that the larger culture makes in regards to Native American nations. For instance they call my people Delawares. My ancestors called themselves “The true people” and mine were of the Turtle clan. And @marinelife gave an almost textbook answer. I was at one time heavily pursued to provide social work services to the Inuit so I applaud @marinelife for accuracy and sensitivity to the question.

Hey I’ll tell you what.
I once knew a girl who would occasionally rub her nose gently against the sides of my nose (not tip to tip, like in the cartoons, but along one side then another), and it was very cool. I looked forward to it.