By telling goodnight stories we will save the world
BarcelonaA few months ago I wrote about the creature-men through Ernest, the protagonist of Game theory, by Arià Paco. In the same article, I quoted the words of another literary protagonist, Eloi from the novel The screams, of Victor Recort, as a vaccine against the progressive infantilization of many young Catalan men: "A man is only a man if he is capable of returning at least the same number of goodnight kisses he received as a child."
Miquel Bonet, one of the country's best columnists, who, when he smells feminism, becomes even more like the Grinch in him, commented on the article on the network formerly known as Twitter: "This theory by Recort is very suggestive because the goodnight kiss thing is a four-day-old invention." This statement lingered in my head until it resurfaced recently, and then I asked myself: is it really a four-day-old invention? The answer is no.
Gestures of protection and blessing before bed are older than urinating upright, transversal to different cultures and religions, and the goodnight kiss is only the contemporary and secular expression. For example, in Jewish tradition, prayers were said before sleeping, trusting in the protection of angels. In Islam, cork oaks were recited to ask for protection against nightmares and the devil. Hindus and Buddhists recited evening mantras to rest peacefully and protect the mind from evil thoughts. Early Christians made the sign of the cross on their foreheads, and in the Middle Ages, psalms were codified to protect the spirit during sleep. In West Africa and among the indigenous peoples of North America, stories could only be told at night. These fables and evening songs, sung around the fire, served to protect the community and served as cultural transmitters for children.
One of the great legacies of the nuclear family
Finally, we began to find the goodnight kiss present in art at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century: in 1884 the British painter Mary Louise Gow titled a painting Good night kiss, with the image of a woman kissing a child. In literature, Louisa May Alcott refers to Women (published in Catalan by Viena Edicions, translated by Mar Vidal); also Marcel Proust talks about the mother's goodnight kisses in Around Swann's Corner, the first volume ofIn Search of Lost Time (in Catalan, in Proa, translated by Valeria Gaillard). During the 20th century, the goodnight kiss became established as a common family ritual, and the bedtime story was added. What had been a communal tradition around the fireside moved into the realm of domestic intimacy, becoming one of the great legacies to the nuclear family and the modern conception of childhood, as it encompasses shared time, ritualized bonding, and cultural transmission. In the 21st century, neuroscience confirms that shared reading is not only a beloved tradition, but essential for enriching children's linguistic abilities, imagination, narrative comprehension, attention, and executive functions.
Meanwhile, the PISA reports warn us of the sustained decline in reading proficiency and reading for pleasure among adolescents and young adults. But this reading crisis can also be interpreted as a crisis of cultural transmission and bonding. If so many men insist on remaining children, they abandon their indispensable role as transmitters of values, culture, and affection to the new generations. So, once again, let's heed Eloi's words: let's grow up once and for all and return the kisses and bedtime stories we received as children. Perhaps it's the only way to save the country and the world.
