The Magic of Friendship

Relationships make the world go round - everyone is seeking someone who will love and understand them. And that's just as true of friendship as it is of romantic relationships. In many countries, especially in tribal cultures, friendship is admired and marked by rituals - from blood brotherhood to blessed 'marriages' between friends - that formalize an unbreakable bond. Friendship can so often happen by the purest chance, but what is it that makes you compatible with one person and not another? It may lie in the stars - your Zodiac sign can reveal the type of friend you are and who might be a suitable best friend.Certainly, with your very best friend you can feel that you are 'soul mates' - and in such cases, you can be sure that your friendship goes beyond your shared taste in music!

Historically, friendship has been regarded far more highly than it is today. As time has passed and society's emphasis has shifted from friendship to romantic partnerships, the formality surrounding our relations with friends has diminished. Friendship is very often seen as secondary to relationships between lovers.

The Greeks and Romans celebrated classical friendships - platonic relationships with many of the characteristic of modern-day love. In Greek mythology, for example, famous friendships existed between male heroes, such as Achilles and Patroclus.

Later, during the Renaissance, this type of friendship made a reappearance in the form of romantic friendship. In these relations it was not usual for friends to set up home together as 'husband and wife'.

Many of the sentimental things we see lovers doing today - writing poems, holding hands, carving each other's names on tree trunks - would then have been practised by close friends. These romantic friendships existed between women only into the early part of the 20th century, but something of their intensity still survives between best friends today. 

You and your very best friend ______ .