Where does the custom of saying "God bless you" after a sneeze come from?
by 
wickedwillie
ANSWERS: 42
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When you sneeze your heart actually stops beating for that instant, thus the saying "God bless you" originated, or so I was told.
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Many cultures believe that the person's soul or vital essences were leaving them through their mouth at the time of the sneeze, so a companion would pray in order to restore their health. The same holds true in European tradition, and most likely roots from the time of the Plague. This tradition has carried on to the modern era from etiquette, as well, as when a person sneezes, it is usually a rather loud action, so by another person saying "Bless you", the focus is taken off of them by saying that they realize their sneeze was involuntary and that they were not offended by it, and also that they wish them to be well.
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Another story about the origin: The custom of saying "God bless you" after a sneeze was begun literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory I the Great (540-604 AD) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the plague in 590 AD (his successor succumbed to it). To combat the plague Gregory ordered litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's intercession. When someone sneezed, they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not subsequently develop the plague.
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This is a very common custom in Muslims. Actually when a man sneezes, his heart gets a momentary pauze and also a type of shock or jerk. So this man says " Alhamdo Lillah " meaning Thank God ( for the heart to recontnue normal function. The muslim nearby replies , Arhama Kum Allah ( meaning May God Bless you ) . It was preached by the Prophet Mohammed in 7th Century in Mecca ( Saudi arabia ) . So basically it is a Muslim tradition .
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I read once that when a person sneezed that their heart stopped beating thus giving the Devil a chance to take their souls. God Bless You was apparently said to ward off the Devil and protect the sneezer from evil. Seems far fetched and it has been years since I read the article that contained this information.
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During the Plague, if someone sneezed, they would usually fall ill and die thereafter. While we know that the sneezing is a symptom of the disease, in olden days, and for the more superstitious, the devil is always around waiting to enter the bodies of the god-fearing. A sneeze leaves a person vulnerable as his/her defenses are down and the devil can enter the body. It's upto those around him/her to protect the person's body by blessing it immediately to put up a barrier to the evil. If the devil gets in, then the body would be corrupted, become rotten, smelly, weak etc and die (plague symptoms).
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Willie's answer is the most informed here. Historic mentions of this saying are certainly frequent from the time of the Black Death. I suggest though that it may have been more associated with one of the more lethal forms of plague: the pneumonic form. Some people recovered from 'ordinary' plague and thus built immunity to it. However, once a person developed the early influenza-like symptoms of pneumonic plague, they had very little time left to live. (Even with modern antibiotics, the death rate for pneumonic plague remains very high because by the time the symptoms appear or the person gets to medical help, it is too late.) 'Bless you' was uttered in the hope that the sufferer was at peace with God.
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In England specifically, it was believed that when you sneezed you were defenceless and the devil would use this opportunity to enter your body. People used to say "God bless you" because it was believed that this would stop the devil from possessing you.
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I read somewhere years ago, that in a time when people thought that leaves that fell from trees and landed on the land became birds and those that fell in the water became fish, and that things fell to earth because demons were pushing them down people also believed that when you sneezed, you did so because there were demons in you trying to make you explode.
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Some well known superstitions that may have contributed to bringing bless you into common use are: The heart stops when you sneeze (it doesn't), and the phrase bless you is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating. A sneeze is the expulsion of some sort of evil, and the phrase is meant to ward off the evil's re-entry. Your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, and saying bless you prevents your soul from being stolen by Satan or some evil spirit. Thus, bless you or God bless you is used as a sort of shield against evil. A sneeze is good luck and saying "bless you" is no more than recognition of the sneezer's luckiness. Found from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you, which is a really great link on this topic.
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Nowadays, people say it because it comes naturally, almost like a tradition. Originally it was thought to keep people's souls from escaping their bodies because they thought the devil would overtake them while sneezing. There is a question here regarding the origin of the phrase if that helps. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/3465
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This is what I heard: Way back then (I don't know the time peroid) Superstitous People beleved that when you sneezed demons would come out- so they would say bless you to keep them from being possesed. I supose the tradition caught on and now we just say it as a polite thing after someone sneezes.
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I think it started during the Black Plague period. Black plague comes in three forms--bubonic, from flea bites, 35% mortality in six weeks; septicemic, from contact between the pus and an open wound, about twice the mortality in one third the time; and pneumonic, through the air, by inhaling germs from someone else's cough or sneeze, and the first symptom was a sneeze. This form has 95% mortality in twenty-four HOURS. So an unexpected sneeze could mean your friend would die in agony within a single day. It was quite natural to wish God's blessing on anyone who sneezed, or if you were a German or Russian, to say "Gesundheit!" or "Buvayte zdorivi!" both of which mean "Be healthy!"
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As Millhouse says on the Simpsons, when you sneeze, your soul tries to escape, by saying bless you, it gats crammed back in there!
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Roger Kovaciny,is actually right,this did come from the era of the bubonic/black plague,however this ALSO comes from the less known fact about pagans.For some reason they believed when you sneezed you were communing with Venus(their "god")b/c sneezing was the most unexpected and noticable act a human could do(according to them).I am aware this answer sound farfetched and is not widely known.
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i dont, gazunetheit works too, in your response you can say donka aben false,which means, and best health to you as well
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Because a long time ago people thought that when you sneezed, part of your soul was escaping. Or that you were releasing demons.
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I've always believed that it was because of the Black Plague. People said 'bless you' whenever someone sneezed, hoping they wouldn't die. I have no idea if this is true. People editing this are smarter than me =-P http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you
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It dates back to the plagues in Europe. They were so common and so devestating, that when someone sneezed, people said "Bless you" or "God bless you" in hopes of warding off illness.
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It was in the time of the Plague sneezing was one of the first signs of illness.Indicated in the nursery rhyme "Ring a ring of Roses a pocket full of posies Atishoo atishoo , we all fall down" this was what children sang in the streets of London because the sneezing and rash were signs of the plague( Black Death)
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The sneeze: more than just ah-choo and bless you. Jessy Randall. Verbatim 27.4 (Autumn 2002): p7(4). In the first couple of hundred years A.D., the Romans responded to a sneeze with Absit omen, "May the omen come to nothing," or with some version of Salus, 'Health.' A character in Apuleius's Metamorphoses (book 9, chapter 41) entreats health for his wife after a sneeze "in the customary words" (Solito sermone salutem ei fuerat imprecatus), but these customary words are not given. Adlington's 1566 translation has him saying "Christ helpe." Later, during a plague in the time of Gregory the Great (590-604 A.D.), conventional wisdom held that death might come with a sneeze, and so people would say Deus te adjuvet, "May God help you, in response." COPYRIGHT 2002 VERBATIM
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The phrase "God bless you" is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great who was said to have first uttered the phrase in the 6th century during a bubonic plague epidemic. But the earliest citation of the phrase is much earlier and is mentioned in Pliny's 'Natural History' written in AD77 where he writes "...why is it that we salute a person when he sneezes...."(so obviously he didn't know either)
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Because they have to have the last word!
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It makes me feel as though they are polite.
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Because a sneeze was the first sign of the plague in the 14th century, when people sneezed it was taken as being that they were sick and probably going to die Hence, 'God Bless You', now bless you. It may not make you feel better but is seen as being kind and polite good manners
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The expression is rooted in superstition. Moira Smith, librarian at the Folklore Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A., says of the expression: "It comes from the idea that you are sneezing out your soul." To say "God bless" is, in effect, asking God to restore it. Of course, most people would probably agree that to believe that the soul escapes your body during a sneeze is irrational. Not surprisingly, therefore, Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines superstition as "a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation."
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At least it's a sign that you care of the one who sneezes. I think it is better to care than ignore.
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People used to believe that your soul briefly left your body when you sneezed. They blessed you to protect your soul during that time period. Interestingly enough, we now know that your heart stops beating briefly when you sneeze (sneezing interrupts your heart-beat). At any rate, I do believe it is polite to say "bless you" when someone sneezes. It is now a matter of manners and etiquette.
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to let the demons out!
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It was believed in superstition that the soul was vulnerable to attack from an evil spirit when in the act of sneezing.
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Supposively when you sneeze, your heart stops beating for a second, thats why its a huge explosion, ACHOO! This is proven by scientists, and from then one, we say God Bless you, because when a heart stops beating, a person will die, and that's what sneezing does. ------------------------------- Traditional responses to a sneeze In English-speaking countries, it is common for at least one person to say "God bless you" (or just "Bless you") after someone sneezes. This tradition originates from the Middle Ages, when it was believed that when one sneezed, the heart stops, the soul left the body and could be snatched by an evil spirit.[citation needed] Today, it is said mostly in the spirit of good manners and is usually followed by the sneezer saying 'Thank you'. Also, when the Scarlet Fever broke out for the first time, people would often die as a result, people then began saying God bless you, in the hope that they would survive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneeze
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While studying cultural anthropology at Tulane University I had heard that some remote Guatemalan cultures kick the sneezer in the genitals immediately after sneezing. This is due to the small amout of urine that can leak out during an exceptionally powerful sneeze. They feel that by kicking the groin area of the sneezer the urine can be forced back in to the sneezers body reducing the amount of laundry for the tribes, so there is more time to hunt and fish...
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My husband says that it is because the heart stops for a brief moment when sneezing, and "bless you" is a way of saying you hope the person's heart starts up again. I have no idea if that's true or not though.
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It was once believed that a sneeze was a sign that an evil spirit was leaving the "sneezer". They would say "God Bless you" in order to assure that the spirit(s) didn't return.
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I heard that it dates from the Great Plague of London, one of the first signs of which was sneezing, and the outcome fatal, thence the blessing
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Every time anyone sneeze .. the pressure of sneeze creates so much of vaccume in your head that one can actually die of the preassure .. the chances are very rare but not to forget their exists a chance .. so everytime someone sneeze, to comfort them we say "God bless you"
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I remember reading somewhere that this custom originated during the time of the Black Plague. Coughing and sneezing were among the earliest symptoms of infection, which in those days meant you were quite certainly doomed. "God Bless You" was a concise way of saying "Well, considering you're going to die in a matter of days, may God have mercy on your soul".
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this is such a good question! I was taught, in New England, that we say, "God bless you," because the sneezer's heart actually stops and your utterance will stop the devil from entering his soul. You see, in NE, we're worried about the devil all day and all night long ;-)
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It's ancient. Pliny mentioned it in 77 ad. When we sneeze, the heart actually stops beating for a moment. Perhaps this was noted, and the blessing was either to ask God to restore your life, or to take care of you if that was the last kathump.
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The most important question is, "Why do YOU say it?" It's amazing that, other than those few who have taken the time to research it (thank you Internet), nobody really seems to know for sure why this is practiced. If you ask anyone who "blesses" you when you sneeze why, they won't really be able to tell you. Do you realize that you are ONLY blessed by others when you sneeze? If you actually hurt yourself, others will usually say, "Are you okay?" Wouldn't the blessing be more appropriate then?
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When i sneeze, i say 'bless me'....it makes people smile for some reason. it comes from the english middle ages when it was believed that sneezing allowed the devil to enter you (devil being in the form of disease like plague etc,) so 'blessing you' was protecting you
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It comes from the 16/17th Century/ Sneezing was one of the first signs of the fever that came with the plague since there was no cure all people could do was give them Gods Blessing thinking they would die. Hence "God Bless You "
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