How does "god bless you" help your sneeze? Why not say it when some body coughs? or farts? or urinates? #2?

Answer 1

The actual real answer is that it is a blessing. Sneezing was one of the early signs of the plague or so it was believed (we're talking 500-600 AD here). When someone sneezed, they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not subsequently develop the plague

Answer 2

Saying "God Bless You" is a pagan original, believed back in old days to keep evil spirits from inhabiting your body, as people believed when you sneezed your soul also left your body.

Answer 3

Some people believe when you sneeze it allows the devil into your body and soul that is where the saying god bless you comes from when you sneeze so the devil doesn't enter you.

Answer 4

In 400 BC the Athenian general Xenophon gave a dramatic oration exhorting his fellow soldiers to follow him to liberty or to death against the Persians. He spoke for an hour motivating his army and assuring them a safe return to Athenian until a soldier underscored his conclusion with a sneeze. Thinking this sneeze a favorable sign from the gods, the soldiers bowed before Xenophon and followed his command. Another divine moment of sneezing for the Greeks occurs in the story of Odysseus. Odysseus returns home disguised as a beggar and talks with his waiting lover Penelope. She says to Odysseus, not knowing to whom she speaks, that he will return safely to challenge her suitors. At that moment their son sneezes loudly and Penelope laughs with joy, reassured that it is a sign from the gods.[1]

Among the pagans of Flanders, a sneeze was an omen. When Saint Eligius warned the pagans against their druidical practices, according to his companion and biographer Ouen, he included the following: "Do not observe auguries or violent sneezing or pay attention to any little birds singing along the road. If you are distracted on the road or at any other work, make the sign of the cross and say your Sunday prayers with faith and devotion and nothing inimical can hurt you."

In Hungary and Slovenia, a sneeze that occurs after making a statement is sometimes interpreted as a confirmation by God that the statement was true.

It is a common belief in India and Pakistan that someone who sneezes remembers or is remembered by someone dear to him or her. Most Indians consider sneezing healthy, and the inability to sneeze to be cause for alarm. Psychology Today reports that Indian scientists have labeled an inability to sneeze "asneezia"; the people of India have long used snuff as a way to artificially induce sneezing.

According to an old Japanese belief, sneezing twice in a row is a sign that someone is talking about you.

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Traditional responses to a sneeze
In English-speaking countries, it is common for at least one person to say "Bless you" after someone sneezes. Its origins are unclear, but it has been cited as far back in Western culture as 150 CE in Apuleius' "The Golden ***." One story is that since the final stage of the Black Plague was sneezing, anyone who sneezed was thought to be at death's door and was blessed for the ascension into heaven.

Answer 5

The tradition goes back to days of old, when (for reasons not known), people believed that the soul momentarily left the body when you sneezed. They said "god bless you" to scare away any demons from going in and taking over while your soul was momentarily outside you.

It's laughably rediculous even to believers these days, but traditions die hard.

Answer 6

When you sneeze, if you look around you at the ones who say "(God) bless you", those are your friends. I worked with one guy who sneezed and I said that and he said "Don't say that! I'm an atheist. That's like telling me to go to hell." So I shut up; only I still say it to hopefuls, the ones that make disparaging remarks but who still need the help.

Answer 7

the belife or story behind saying "god bless you" after some one sneezes is that when someone sneezes their soul escapes a little but by saying "god bless you" in stops your soul from coming out and staying in its host body

Answer 8

It was once beleived that a sneeze was a demon or evil spirit inside you. Saying God Bless You was supposedly the cure.

Answer 9

I've heard that when you sneeze that your heart momentarily stops and people thought that a demon or evil spirit could get inside you so to counter it they'd say God bless you. I think it's nice that we still do that today even though I don't think demons would possess us when we sneeze.

Answer 10

The thought was a spirit was leaving the body so God Bless You was said to make sure it would not come back.