You know the scene. Somebody in the room lets out a big “ACHOO!” and without even thinking about it, three or four people at once chime in with “bless you!” Like it’s a reflex we were all born with.
But have you ever stopped to wonder why? Sneezing is a funny old thing in its own right — we have already looked at whether holding your nose when you sneeze is really bad for you. Here we are in the middle of a sneezing fit, and suddenly everybody’s a preacher. It’s one of those things we all do and almost nobody can explain. So let’s dig into it a little bit, because the answer goes back a lot further than you might think.
As it turns out, nobody is exactly sure where the habit started. But there are a few theories that seem to hold the most water, and they’re each a little stranger than the last.
Was Sneezing Really a Sign From the Gods?
Long before anyone was saying “bless you,” the ancient Greeks and Romans looked at a sneeze as an omen. Not a polite little bodily function, but a message from the gods themselves, and it could be taken as either a good sign or a bad one depending on the circumstances.
There’s a story from around 401 BC about the Athenian general Xenophon. He was giving a speech, trying to talk his soldiers into marching against the Persians, when right at the end of it one of his men sneezed. Everybody took that as a sign of approval from above, and the soldiers were moved by it. I’d say that’s a tough act to follow if you’re just trying to wrap up a speech!
To the Romans, a sneeze could mean just about anything depending on how it landed. They had their own little responses for it too, like “Salve!” which means “be well.”
Did the Pope Start the Whole Thing?
The most popular story floating around today credits Pope Gregory the Great. The tale goes that back in 590 AD, a plague was sweeping through Rome, and sneezing was thought to be one of the early warning signs that you’d caught it. The Pope is said to have instructed Christians to respond to a sneeze with a short prayer, as a blessing over the person, in case it turned out to be their last one.
Now, I should be honest with you here. Historians haven’t been able to pin this one down as hard fact, and even the researchers who’ve looked into it treat it as folklore more than a documented decree. What seems more likely is that the custom grew up gradually out of a bunch of overlapping superstitions, rather than one Pope sitting down and making a rule about it.
Could Your Soul Really Escape Through a Sneeze?
Here’s my favorite of the bunch. Back in the Middle Ages, a lot of folks believed your breath was tied to your life itself. That’s actually where our word “expire” comes from. It originally just meant “to breathe out,” and somewhere along the way it picked up the meaning of “to die.”
So when you sneeze, and all that air comes bursting out of you, people figured that was a dangerous moment. Some believed the soul could be temporarily pushed right out of the body, leaving you wide open for something evil to slip in while the door was hanging open. Saying “bless you” was a way of covering that gap.
Others thought the heart stopped for just a split second during a sneeze, and the blessing was a little prayer that it would get going again. It doesn’t, of course. That one’s pure folklore, with no basis in how the body actually works. It rubs shoulders with the folklore that grew up around garlic as one of those little beliefs that refuses to die out.
What Do Other Cultures Say When You Sneeze?
We’re not the only ones who feel the need to say something. Around the world, folks have been responding to sneezes for just as long, and the things they say tell you a lot about what they were worried about. I find this part fascinating.
- In Germany, they say “Gesundheit,” which simply means “health.” We’ve borrowed that one here in the States too.
- In Spanish it’s “Salud,” and in Italian “Salute.” Same idea, a wish for good health.
- In Russia, they say “Bud’ zdorov,” which means “be healthy.”
- French speakers say “à tes souhaits,” or “to your wishes.” If you sneeze a second time, it changes to “à tes amours,” which means “to your loves.” Just how many sneezes they’ve got responses lined up for, I couldn’t tell you!
- In parts of China, the belief runs a little different. A sneeze means somebody somewhere is talking about you. One sneeze means something good is being said, two could mean someone’s thinking of you, and three might mean someone’s in love with you.
- Over in India, some folks believe a sneeze right before you start a task is a bad sign, so they’ll pause and take a sip of water before getting going, to break the spell.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Korea, and parts of China, it’s actually the opposite of what we do. It’s not customary to say anything at all when someone sneezes. The person who sneezed is the one who apologizes, usually something like “excuse me.” So if you ever let one loose in Tokyo and nobody says a word, don’t take it personally!
Did you Know?
The ancient Romans had a whole list of sneeze responses, including “Iuppiter conservet,” which translates to “may Jupiter preserve you.”
So Should You Still Say “Bless You”?
Well, that’s entirely up to you. It’s a harmless little courtesy, and most people don’t mean anything religious by it these days. Even saying “God bless you,” plenty of folks are just being polite without giving a single thought to what they’re saying.
If you’d rather keep it simple, “Gesundheit” never hurt anybody. It sits in the same family as the superstitions around walking under a ladder and the strange beliefs people hold about mirrors. Or, if you’re feeling fancy, you could borrow the French approach and wish them a hundred years of health.
Myself, I’ll probably keep right on saying “bless you,” same as always. You can hold a sneeze in, and you can question the tradition all you like, but it seems like one of those habits that’s got a good long life ahead of it yet. Some things are just too ingrained in us to shake!
Thank You for reading this post today. I hope it settled a question you’d never gotten around to asking. Bless you… and no, I’m not going to explain why I said that this time! But here’s something to chew on the next time somebody sneezes near you — did you grow up with a different sneeze tradition, or say something else entirely at home?
