Sneezing Superstitions
Ryan Bowling
Issue date: 3/4/05 Section: Features
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Why do we say "bless you" or "God bless you" when someone sneezes? I was sitting in a class the other day and it happened, just like it happens in every class: someone sneezed and two or three people chimed in to bless the sneezer.
And for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder why. We all like to think of ourselves as unique individuals, some of us are even set on not conforming to the world; but how many of us habitually bless a sneeze without knowing why?
After a few moments of silence and a furrowed brow, freshman Jimmy Storms said, "I have never thought about [why we say bless you]," he said. "But I think it is polite."
Many people today see the blessing as etiquette, and as Storms said, the polite thing to do.
According to Wilson D. Wallis in The Scientific Monthly, even Aristotle "declared the sneeze an honorable acknowledgement of the seat of good sense and genius."
However, there are three common myths about where "bless you" originated from.
"I thought is meant that back in the day, there was a lot of illness and people sneezed when they were sick," freshman Leah Schroeder said. "And since there weren't many cures, people blessed the sneezer in case they died."
This is not far from the truth. According to the Old Wives Tales website, the saying 'Bless you' goes back to 150 AD when Tiberius Caesar would say it to a sneezer. At this time, many Romans died from serious illnesses.
This blessing carried the "belief that the more blessings offered to the sufferer may help lessen the chance of death." Also, Pope Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, instituted a prayer for the sneeze in hopes that one would not die, since at the time the plague was spreading and sneezing could foreshadow premature death.
There are other superstitions regarding the sneeze as well.
"Someone told me when I was 12 that your heart skips a beat or stops when you sneeze...so that's why you bless people," senior Odi Bosah said. "So I guess in case it stops beating for good or something."
And for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder why. We all like to think of ourselves as unique individuals, some of us are even set on not conforming to the world; but how many of us habitually bless a sneeze without knowing why?
After a few moments of silence and a furrowed brow, freshman Jimmy Storms said, "I have never thought about [why we say bless you]," he said. "But I think it is polite."
Many people today see the blessing as etiquette, and as Storms said, the polite thing to do.
According to Wilson D. Wallis in The Scientific Monthly, even Aristotle "declared the sneeze an honorable acknowledgement of the seat of good sense and genius."
However, there are three common myths about where "bless you" originated from.
"I thought is meant that back in the day, there was a lot of illness and people sneezed when they were sick," freshman Leah Schroeder said. "And since there weren't many cures, people blessed the sneezer in case they died."
This is not far from the truth. According to the Old Wives Tales website, the saying 'Bless you' goes back to 150 AD when Tiberius Caesar would say it to a sneezer. At this time, many Romans died from serious illnesses.
This blessing carried the "belief that the more blessings offered to the sufferer may help lessen the chance of death." Also, Pope Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, instituted a prayer for the sneeze in hopes that one would not die, since at the time the plague was spreading and sneezing could foreshadow premature death.
There are other superstitions regarding the sneeze as well.
"Someone told me when I was 12 that your heart skips a beat or stops when you sneeze...so that's why you bless people," senior Odi Bosah said. "So I guess in case it stops beating for good or something."
Article last update: 3/7/05 at 3:53 PM CST