Maj. Bill Eberhardt touches noses (Hongi) with a Maori warrior during a Powhiri, or welcoming ceremony, at Christchurch, New Zealand
Wikimedia Commons is an important resource for photos and media used on Wikipedia and various sister projects. But it is also an amazing store of images that can be freely used in so many other applications, personal or professional, provided you adhere to the prescriptions in the free licenses used on the media.
We thought it would be a useful exercise to pick a theme and see how many interesting images we could find that fit the theme. After searching for images by the keyword "orange," and "water," we chose to center this photo essay on "greetings." We were delighted to find with the initial search queries of "welcome" and "greeting," that the subject yielded such a diverse range of images. We sought to expand the search by looking at "greetings" itself. According to the article on Wikipedia, a greeting is an act of communication in which human beings (as well as members of the animal kingdom) intentionally make their presence known to each other.
After searching for "greeting" we tried "waving," "hug," "kiss," "haka",peace sign" and several other search terms. Photos on Commons are sorted into many different categories. So if you already found an image related to the theme you are interested in, it can be useful to click on the categories which appear at the bottom of the image page, below the metadata, to find other images on the same topic. As an example for our search, here is the the category for hand waving. If you know a useful category that is missing in the image, you can help Commons by adding it yourself - click "edit" and follow these instructions.
The following gallery shows some of our favorite results, which we've selected for the array of greetings they illustrate, as well as the historic importance or quirkiness they might depict.
Jordon Hu, Communications Intern With assistance from Matthew Roth, Global Communications Manager and Commons contributor InverseHypercube
A Nepalese man demonstrating the "hand wave"A wave from Prince William of Wales at the wedding with Kate MiddletonWinston Churchill waves to crowds in Whitehall on the day he broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945Tennis player Simone Bolelli waves to the audience at the 2012 French OpenUS baseball player Nick Swisher wavingMovie director Ang Lee at the Venice International Film Festival Sumo wrestlers gather in a circle around the gyoji (referee) in the dohyō-iri (ring-entering ceremony).The New Zealand All Blacks greeting the French national team with the traditional "Haka."U.S. President Richard Nixon's iconic wave with victory signIraqi boys giving peace sign Iraqi boys giving peace outside the Amiriya bomb shelter memorial in BaghdadPeace signs during protests in YemenFree hugs on offer in TokyoThe England National Rugby team participates in a group hugWrestlers Magnum TOKYO and Tajiri hug in the ring prior to a tag team matchBasketball players Mike James and Lindsey Hunter embraceHillary Clinton embraces Aung San Su KyiDonald Tusk hugs Jean-Claude Juncker at the European People's Party Congress in WarsawBen Huh, owner of I Can Has Cheezburger?, hugging 4chan founder moot at en:ROFLCon IIRobonaut, a humanoid robot created by NASA, shaking hands with a human astronautPresident Harry S. Truman greets Josef Stalin at the Potsdam ConferencePhotograph shows President Jimmy Carter shaking hands with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty on the grounds of the White HouseA young girl curtsies as she presents flowers to Queen Elizabeth II on a tour of AustraliaDenis Thatcher(husband of U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) kisses the hand of U.S. First Lady Nancy ReaganA child kisses a babyA wedding photo kiss in Portland, OR, USAVincent Clerc prepares to blow a kissPsyche revived by Cupid's kiss, by Antonio CanovaA U.S. Navy Scuba Diver gives a child a high-fiveMarco Scutaro of the Toronto Maple Leafs fist bumps his First Base Coach Dwayne MurphyRear Admiral Thomas Carney of the U.S. Navy returns a boy's traditional Thai greetingKabuki performers bowing following their performanceA woman bows to an Orca Whale in Osaka, JapanBlack-tailed prairie dogs "kissing"Two parakeets getting close at Avifauna, the NetherlandsElephants greeting each other on the plains of TanzaniaCats sharing an embrace
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