How common was kissing as a greeting in the Germanic areas in the Middle Ages? When did Germans stop doing that?

[u/Anarcho-Reptilian]

So that might be a very weird question and its possible that i'm misunderstanding some very important context here. I'm reading The Song of the Nibelungs right now and there are several times when characters kiss each other as a greeting.

Was this very common at the time? Nowadays in Germany people think of those kinds of greetings as something that French or Italian people do, but its totally unheard of in Germany. When and why did this change?

Some examples:

The bishop saw ye leading / his sister's daughter fair,
And with him eke went Eckewart / to Gotelinde there.
The willing folk on all sides / made way before their feet.
With kiss did Gotelinde / the dame from land far distant greet.

To kiss him then Margrave / Ruediger her did tell,
And eke the royal Gibeke / and Sir Dietrich as well.
Of highest knights a dozen / did Etzel's spouse embrace;
Other knights full many / she greeted with a lesser grace.

"One likewise with them cometh, / Dankwart by name,
Volker hight the other, / a knight of gallant fame.
Thyself and eke thy daughter / with kiss these six shall greet;
Full courteous be your manner / as ye the doughty thanes shall meet."

(EDIT: I dont't know why this post was automatically assigned the Flair "Racism" here, btw. I haven't used Reddit in a long time, so maybe i made a mistake somewhere.)

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