Why do people say bless you when you sneeze?

ok.. when you sneeze your body shuts down for split second, thats why its imposible to sneeze with your eyes open, so people bless you because of that

It is a wise tale that when people sneeze, bits of their soul leave their body. So when people say “bless you”, they bless your soul to heaven.

One explanation holds that the custom originally began as an actual blessing. Gregory I became Pope in 590 as an outbreak of the bubonic plague was reaching Rome. In hopes of fighting off the disease, he ordered unending prayer and parades of chanters through the streets. At the time, sneezing was thought to be an early symptom of the plague. The blessing (“God bless you!”) became a common effort to halt the disease.

A variant of the Pope Gregory I story places it with Pope Gregory VII, then tells the common (though untrue) story of “Ring Around the Rosey” being connected to the same plague.

A legend holds that it was believed 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.

Another version says that people used to believe that your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, that sneezing otherwise opened your body to invasion by the Devil or evil spirits, or that sneezing was your body’s effort to force out an invading evil spirit. Thus, “bless you” or “God bless you” is used as a sort of shield against evil.

It’s the pneumonic plague (as peple up there have been saying). The beubonic plague (the really famous one) gave people horibble ‘beubos’ which were enormous puss-filled boils which burst out all over them before certain death (wonderful stuff, heh? Thank God for antibiotics). The pneumonic plague was not quite so deadly but began, as mentioned above, with fits of uncontrollable and prolonged sneezing. It was spread by the sneezing too, of course.

So the saying ‘God bless you’ for a sneeze does origniate from the same thing as the children’s rhyme ‘Ring a ring a roses’ - the roses were those lovely beuboes, the posies were flowers held to ward off germs and ‘attichoo, attichoo, we all fall down’ speaks for itself, I think.

The other sayings for a sneeze (above), from other countries, are interesting. What does the German word ‘gezundheit’ (apologies for the spelling) mean?

I odnt realy no probly just to be polite or what those 2 said

well don’t quote me on this, but an english teacher told me it was becaue back in the medieval days they thought you were sneezing out demon spirits from your body so they blessed you when you sneezed…I don’t know how true that is, that’s just what one of my english teachers told me…

A) because in olden times it was believed that devils could enter your body through your mouth, nose, etc. B) because your heart occasionally skips a beat when you sneeze. Incidentally, Guzundtheit! does NOT mean “God bless you” it is German for “Good healthfulness”

Actually there are a lot of theories of why people say bless. Some have already been mentioned above. I have also heard that people think your heart stops when you sneeze, so they say that in case it doesn’t begin to beat again. Another I have heard, is people used to think your soul was thrust from your body and they said bless you so the devil could not snatch it up. For some sneezing means that good fortune is to be coming their way. So saying bless you is in recognition of incoming luck. Those are all the origins of “bless you” I have ever heard, but I am sure there are more. Which one is right, if any? Who knows. hope this helps :)

wow I thought that very same thing juyst the other week

I actually sneezed while reading this. Go figure.

look it up, there’s a lot about it… and the whole sneezing your soul out is pretty much where it came from. =]

the reason is back in the age of the rennisance when the black plague was spreading a lot of snezzing meant you had it.cathing it was almost certain death.

long ago people thought when you sneeze your body was trying to get rid of an evil spirit. so they said bless you…as in bless your soul so the evil spirit goes.

ok, so maybe the dude who said the ‘pope’ stuff and all made people say ‘god bless you’. In different countries, people say different stuff. Like in france, they say ;may your wishes come true’. In some islands in cuba, they say ‘pray for cattle and a good wife’. And so, there isn’t really an answer to your question. (People in England say ‘may god bless you’. But heck, don’t care–take the blessing and move on!

my mum said in the olden days people said bless you because if you sneeze you might die because the didnt have the right medicine!!!

read your history!!!

bye