There are 97 days till 2009. The gesture of shaking hands with a new friend or even a business associate is something we do every day without even thinking of its significance. However, there was a time when clasping the hand of another person held lots of mystical significance. There are those who think that the custom of the handshake began in ancient Egypt. It symbolized the transfer of power from a god to the country’s earthly ruler. In 1800 BC, it was the custom of the ruler of the Babylonians to grasp the hand of the god’s statue as part of a New Year’s ceremony.