Ok, couldn't resist, so I've been searching on the internet for info and came up with this:
Apparantly there are cultures where this kind of behaviour happened. I don't think it's normal, but who knows if I was born in Japan? *scratching my head right now... how normal am I????*
Add: a forum where they discuss the subject... for whomever is interested => http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=82113
