Why do we say 'bless you' after someone sneezes?

Answer 1

Actually there are several reasons:
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.)

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 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.

References
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board. Ed Zotti, Editor. Why Do We Say "God Bless You" After a Sneeze? Sept. 27, 2001.
Dr.Tom Wilson of Washington University School of Medicine. 1998. [1]
Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem. A Dictionary of Superstitions. Oxford University Press; Oxford, 1992. ISBN 0-19-282916-5
Snopes Urban Legends - Bless You!

Answer 2

Hiya! This custom of saying 'God Bless you!' when someone sneezes comes from an old Chinese legend. Before lots and lots of centuries, the chinese used to think that whn someone sneezed that your spirit/soul came out, so by saying God Bless you, it made it not escape out! Or something like that...

Then there is another myth that says 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! Hope I helped! xx

Answer 3

This may not be right but I recall hearing somewhere that during the time of the Bubonic plague in Europe a person who sneezed was presumed, probably correctly, to be on the quick road to death. The blessing was, as the word suggests, a sincere prayer for either a miracle recovery or a painless passage to the next life. This makes alot of sense when one considers the absolute devastation and misery such plagues wrought upon the populations of the world at the time.

Answer 4

I t was believed in the middle ages that when you sneezed your spirit or soul jumped out of your body for a second and in that time an evil spirit could take its place to stop this bless you was used in the belief that the evil spirit couldn't get a hold while a person was being blessed

Answer 5

Ring a ring a roses
A pocket full of posies
Atishoo, atishoo
We all fall down

This children's rhyme originated from the Great Plague or Black Death.

Red rings appeared on the skin and the sneezing was brought on by the infection. Black lumps used to form in the armpits hence the term 'Black Death'.

When someone began to sneeze it was sign of approaching death so people would say, "God bless you" which became abbreviated to, "Bless you".

Similarly, " God be with you" became "Goodbye".

Answer 6

Pretty sure they used to say it when the Black Plauge was around and it means God Bless You as sneezing was an early sign that you were on your way out soon.

Answer 7

Have you heard the traditional children's nursery rhyme:

Ring a ring o' roses,
A pocketful of posies.
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
We all fall down.

As has already been stated, 'bless you' was a commonplace blessing adopted to ward off the influence of the black death. The nursery rhyme above is a dark reminder, from the same period, for children to be wary of sneezing - with it's links to imminent widespread deaths

(pretty dark - huh? - who said nursery rhymes are just for kids?)

A good resource on this is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_O'Roses

Don't let this cause you to have sleepless nights

Answer 8

Sneezing is the act of freeing one self, mind and the cells. when one sneezes the carbondioxide comes out with full force thereby bringing out the body not wanted waste, we say "bless you". it is also believe that, in the traditional norms that when one sneezes it is a good omen, something good is waiting for the person ahead, we say "bless you".

Answer 9

The modern belief is that when one sneezes our heart stops beating for about a second.....and therefore one says ' God Bless You'

Answer 10

I think that at one time, long ago, it was believed that when you sneezed, you were expelling evil spirits, therefore required a blessing, as it were, to make sure you were okay.