I got this question from Dane Cook. <3
2006-12-27 05:54:50 · 25 answers · asked by mgn_45 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It's from the days of the plague when a sneeze could be the first sign that you'd got it.
You say "God bless you" to pray that it's not the plague
2006-12-27 05:56:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
A long time ago, most people believed that when you sneezed, you sneexed evil spirits out of you, so everytime someone sneezed they said "God bless you" so the evil spirit wouldn't return into the body. They also thought that evil spirits was the reason that people did wrong, so they were always tryng to get rid of the spirits.
2006-12-27 14:01:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earliest mentions of the practice carry no hint of the reasons for the practice, leaving us with a mystery.
The oldest sightings mentioned in Opie and Tatem's A Dictionary of Superstitions are:
[Pliny, Natural History, AD 77]
Why is it that we salute a person when he sneezes, an observation which Tiberius Caesar, they say, the most unsociable of men, as we all know, used to exact, when riding in his chariot even?
[Apuleius, Golden ***, AD 150]
'Bless you, my dear!' he said, and 'bless you, bless you!' at the second and third sneeze.
[Greek Anthology, ante AD 500]
Dick cannot blow his nose whene'er he pleases, His nose so long is, and his arm so short; Nor ever cries, God bless me! when he sneezes -- He cannot hear so distant a report.
2006-12-27 14:08:51 · answer #3 · answered by rezany 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People used to believe that when you sneezed you might actually sneeze out your soul (because sneezing is so violent). Seriously. And that in the interim a spirit could possess you. So people say "God bless you" to keep the invading spirit out while your soul is returning.
BB
)O(
2006-12-27 13:57:07 · answer #4 · answered by wyvern1313 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And believe it or not, some people actually believe in God...imagine that!
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 blessing. 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.
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you
2006-12-27 13:58:41 · answer #5 · answered by thebattwoman 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
People used to believe that the soul left the body when someone sneezed. They would say "God bless you" to get the soul back in.
2006-12-27 13:59:52 · answer #6 · answered by shermynewstart 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
when you sneeze the heart stops for a milli second.
because your heart starts up again people say you were blessed by God or God bless you
2006-12-27 13:58:12 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because people thought that a sneeze was evidence that the devil was trying to steal your soul or that you were more vulnerable to the devil stealing your soul while sneezing.
I've got a better question - Why do people say "excuse me" when they sneeze?
2006-12-27 14:04:47 · answer #8 · answered by Phoenix, Wise Guru 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You got a question from Dan cook .The fact is this was started during the black plague, when someone would sneeze they thought they had it.They knew there was a God .
2006-12-27 14:00:35 · answer #9 · answered by gwhiz1052 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well i learned that people use to think, that when you sneezed, your heart stopped for a split second. So people bless you. I don't know if thats right, but its an old folklore.
2006-12-27 13:58:20 · answer #10 · answered by Simply Samantha. 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋