Who started the saying of "Bless You" when someone sneezes and why say it?

Question

Many people say traditional things or statements without considering its meaning or origin. Finally when day, I felt uncomfortable saying something that made no sense to me. And I ask many associates, friends, and even strangers, what is the meaning of saying "Bless You" When a person accidentally falls to the ground, no one says "Bless You" When someone coughs, no one says "bless you" When someone gets hurt, no one says "bless you" How about when person bleches, no one says "bless you" When some gets in a motor vehicle collision, no one says "bless you" According to Websters New World Dictionary it defines the word, "Bless" to mean "to ask divine favor for" Now according to that definition, why am I asking devine favor for a person sneezing? Is this saying "bless you" even Christian? Can someone show me in the Bible where it teaches us to say, "bless you" when someone sneezes? Until I receive divine understanding regarding this subject, I am protesting the saying.

Answer 1

One traditional explanation for the custom is that it began literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory I the Great (AD 540-604) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the bubonic plague in AD 590 (his successor succumbed to it). To combat the plague, Gregory ordered litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's intercession. When someone sneezed (seen as the initial onset of the plague), they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not actually develop the disease. Sneezing while alone necessitated saying "Bless me."

Other theories are based on superstitions and urban legends about sneezing and what a sneeze entails. 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.
Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began rather uninterestingly as a response for an event that wasn't well understood at the time.

Another urban legend states that you cannot open your eyes while you sneeze, or if you manage to your eyes will pop out. This is, as stated, nothing more than an urban legend.

Answer 2

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.
Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began rather uninterestingly as a response for an event that wasn't well understood at the time.
Another urban legend states that you cannot open your eyes while you sneeze, or if you manage to your eyes will pop out. This is, as stated, nothing more than an urban legend.
Christians should not say it because of the superstitions surrounding it.

Answer 3

I believe it comes from a long time ago. When someone would sneeze, they thought demons were trying to get into your body through your mouth, so saying "bless you" would stop that. But I could be wrong...

One thing I DO know is that your heart does NOT skip a beat when you sneeze. That's an old wives' tale and it's been disproven many times, including on that show Mythbusters.
I also know it's impossible to sneeze without closing your eyes. And it's not because your eyes will blow out of your head, it's just your body's reaction to the violence of sneezing. Anyone who says they can do it is lying. They're not really sneezing.

Answer 4

It's not biblical, but it does have its roots in Christian culture.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgesundheit.html

The custom of saying "God bless you" after a sneeze was begun literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the plague (his successor succumbed to it). Gregory (who also invented the ever-popular Gregorian chant) called for litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's help and intercession. Columns marched through the streets chanting, "Kyrie Eleison" (Greek for "Lord have mercy"). When someone sneezed, they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not subsequently develop the plague. All that prayer apparently worked, judging by how quickly the plague of 590 AD diminished.

The connection of sneezing to the plague is not the first association of sneezing with death. According to Man, Myth, and Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, many cultures, even some in Europe, believe that sneezing expels the soul--the "breath of life"--from the body. That doesn't seem too far-fetched when you realize that sneezing can send tiny particles speeding out of your nose at up to 100 miles per hour!


Personally, I say "gesundheit" (literally "good health" in German) instead of "bless you".

Answer 5

Im not sure how far back we'd have to go with this one, but knowing medical fact that during a sneeze there is a 3 second window where you could die, the religious (catholic i believe) people would bless people to make it through the sneeze and be ok.

Answer 6

I think it has to do somethin' with some relegin on how if someone would to sneeze that meant that the devil was tryin' to get into your soul or the spirit was tryin' to get out of you or some weird thing like that. And by saying "bless you" it sapose to keep the bad out of you or something. - Atleast thats what I've been told a long time ago...

Answer 7

It is said to have been started in Europe during the time of the plague. One would say "bless you" because they knew you didn't have long to live if you were sneezing. Sneezing was one of the first symptoms of the plague.

Answer 8

When you sneeze your heart skips a beat. During the plague a lot of people died when they sneezed because their heart wasn't strong enough. When people didn't die their family and friends said "bless you". That's what I heard. Also, people said "bless you" so that they wouldn't develop the plague.

Answer 9

The saying comes from when people thought that sneezes where so powerful that they were afraid that your soul would escape. Thus, they said "bless you" just in case your soul did escape so it would have more of a chance of getting into heaven.

You should question where "something is bugging me" came from. That one's just as interesting.

Answer 10

I'm not sure, but I think that people used to believe that when someone sneezed...it was an evil spirit leaving them, or something like that...so saying "bless you" was a way to purify them? Or something like that.