Why we kiss when the clock strikes New Year

A dilemma of single people almost everywhere is who they're going to kiss when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve . There's nothing lonelier than standing in a room of couples all bringing in the new year with locked lips, while you're there sadly holding your champagne and meekly singing along to 'Auld Lang Syne'.
Like with most traditions, it's meaningless. It's not a sign you'll spend the whole year miserable and alone if you don't find someone who wants to kiss you. But also like other traditions, it does date back a long time. Some historians trace it back to ancient Rome.

The Romans knew how to party, and would throw a big celebration every year called the 'Festival of Saturnalia'. Presumably, a lot of debauchery and kissing would happen, and this tradition filtered down to the rest of Europe.

Saturnalia is also a part of why we kiss under the mistletoe. In ancient Greece, to celebrate the festival, people would kiss underneath the parasitic plant because it was associated with fertility. The Romans would reconcile differences with enemies under the mistletoe, as it represented peace. Later on, during the Renaissance, masquerade balls were popular across Europe. 'Bustle' reported that, at midnight, people would remove their masks, and kisses were a way of purifying each other from evil. It was a way of starting the new year with a clean slate.

English and German folklore built on this idea, and spread the superstition that a midnight kiss strengthened a budding romance, and avoiding it could mean a loveless year ahead.

Wherever the idea originated, it's likely not based on anything concrete. However, if you're worried about being kiss-less at the beginning of the new year, then you might want to go to Scotland. During Hogmanay, the Scottish new year celebration, it is traditional to give a kiss to everyone in the room. The idea is to connect friends and strangers, and it also makes the single people feel a bit better.