Why do people say "bless you" after someone sneezes?

Question

oh.my.god i really didn't know your heart stops when you sneeze
thanks guys for letting me know!!!

Answer 1

1. It was once believed that when you sneeze, that your heart stops: which we now know your heart does NOT stop when you sneeze

2. Some cultures believed your sould tried to escape in a sneeze

3. Many reasons because of the plague: some even thought it was a sign of the plague

4. Some people once believed a demon was leaving the body of a person if you sneezed

5. Other cultures did it for good luck

Answer 2

From Wikipedia:

Origins
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.

Superstition
Other explanations 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:

Oxford University Biology Professor, Bindi Perkins suggests: When you need to sneeze, it helps to look at a brighter light or at the sun. Looking at a bright light or at the sun can direct light up into the nasal cavity which in-turn reflects light from the dust particles up into your cerebral membrane. It is here that the sneezing mechanism is triggered.

The belief that the heart stops when you sneeze, and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating. (Of course, the heart beats because of electrical pulses that are not affected by normal functions like sneezing.)

According to Jamie Hay (2007): A sneeze is the expulsion of some sort of evil, and the phrase is meant to ward off the evil's re-entry. Due to this some people believe that it is unlucky to say thank you, as this allows the evil to return. In Ireland if you say 'Thank you' a leprechaun dies. In other countries a fairy dies.
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.
In his latest book, sneezing expert Justin Frankel (2007), speculates Flatulating, Burping and Sneezing all at the same time results in the sudden onset of death.

Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began simply 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. During a sneeze the impulses travel through your face causing your eyelids to blink, this response is entirely automatic.

In many English-speaking countries, the German equivalent, gesundheit (which means "good health"), is used after sneezing or coughing.

Alternative intent
One other usage of the phrase "Bless you" in response to a sneeze is to bless or thank a person who sneezes but covers his or her mouth and nose with a tissue, handerkerchief, sleeve, or even a hand (hopefully then washing the hands before touching shared items) as an act of concern and courtesy to others, in order to avoid spreading the germs expelled so as not to sicken other people. Presumably, a person who fails to demonstrate such concern and courtesy by not covering the mouth and nose during a sneeze would not be blessed or thanked.

Answer 3

The practice originated when tribes believed that the sneeze released demons. The practice was translated and continued. We have often come up with other reasons since that time, but the practice started before there was a true understanding of the how the body worked.

Answer 4

Apparently when you sneeze its your soul trying to get out and people say bless you to protect you from the devil or so i herd anyway...lol

BTW you heart does not stop when you sneeze its a myth
its also a myth that it has something to do with the plague!!

Answer 5

It was believed in the Middle Ages that your heart stopped when you sneezed, and that if you didn't say "God Bless You," or "Bless You" after the person sneezed, the devil could enter their body and take their soul.

Answer 6

EDIT
I'll leave my comments here but I just read Chipmunks answer and its is more comprehensive than mine and has better references.
Mind you she did nick it verbatim from Wikipedia.
I'd make hers the BEST answer if I were you.
END EDIT

A pagan belief was that evil spirits could enter you during the brief moment of a sneeze.
(You cannot sneeze with your eyes open so perhaps this is the origin of that old belief, however that part is mere conjecture.)

Anyway with the advent of Christianity in England religious leaders tried to eradicate all earlier beliefs by various methods.

Many pagan beliefs and festivals were simply incorporated into Christian holidays.
e.g. Easter is a corruption of Oestra the pagan rite of spring.
Evergreen plants were brought in to homes around midwinter centuries before Christ was a twinkle in Joseph's eye.

Other beliefs were stamped on viciously;
in particular pagan rituals were said to be Witchcraft and people practising them were ostracised and later burned.
e.g. the ritual of jumping with a broomstick to help the crops (not very effective but quite harmless) was transferred by propaganda into flying around on broomsticks with the help of evil black magic (also completely not effective but more worrying for the good Christian simple folk of England.)

Lastly many rituals were disapproved of but there was insufficient strength of will to stamp them out, these include old silly superstitions like saying "bless you" when someone sneezes.
It would have really annoyed the Catholic church as blessings could only be given by the clergy. They had a monopoly on blessing and praying and access to God.

Nevertheless it would have been so ubiquitous that they would have to have burned the entire population; so they gave up on little things like that and chose their battles wisely.

Answer 7

you know that song that you sang when you were small,

ring a ring a rosie;
a pocket fill of posies;
(cant remember the rest)
a tissue a tissue;
we all fall down;

Something to do with a long time ago when people were dying from a plague. People said Bless you, because if they started sneezing, it meant that they were going to die. Hence where the song came from and why people say Bless you.

Hoped it helped!!

x

Answer 8

In ancient times of witches and evil doers people believed the devil was lurking around every corner
When you sneeze apparently your soul wa meant to pop out of your body
if no one said bless you the soul was liable to be snatched by the devil and leave you in a dazed state

Bless you releases the soul back to go into your body again

Answer 9

People used to believe that the heart stopped beating when someone sneezed, so they would say God bless you to make sure the heart would start beating again.

The practice is based on superstition and has become habitual.

Answer 10

the tradition of saying "God bless you" after someone sneezes came about because long ago people believed that evil spirits caused people to sneeze. By saying "God bless you" the evil spirits were driven away. I doubt that many people still believe that evil spirits cause a person to sneeze; yet we still continue the tradition.