Ever Thought Why Do People Say “Bless You!” After You Sneeze? Here’s Why.
Why do we sneeze?
Before we proceed, let me ask you something. What do you do when somebody irritates you way beyond your tolerance? You throw them out of your life.
Yeah so basically your body more specifically your nose has bare minimum tolerance for whatever it is that irritates it. And hence it throws it out; this action is referred to as sneezing. The reason can vary from a small allergen to cold-causing virus.
Origin of this blessing
This is one of those things which nobody exactly knows where it originated from, but there are some theories that people believe might have started this saying. One such theory is of Pope Gregory initiating bless you. As far as the story goes this started when an epidemic; plague broke out in the 6th century (yeah this is that old!). When he was on the streets, a man suffering from the plague had died, and Pope Gregory had used the phrase “bless you.”
Wondering how is the plague connected to this? The sneeze was one of the major symptoms of this disease, and from then on, people who sneezed was blessed with good health by using the phrase “God bless you!”
Here I’ve enlisted the reasons why people tell Bless you after you sneeze!
1. The Devil plans to enter your body.
Devil takes various forms and is all ready to capture your soul. He tries every possible way of entering your body. Wait, hold on a second, I’m not saying this. It’s a belief folk, yes; people believe that when you sneeze the devil tries to make an entry into your body. So, to protect you from the Devil’s prying hands, people bless you.
2. When you sneeze your souls leaves your body.
Talking about the devil, how can you not include your soul. It is believed by some, that when you sneeze your soul leaves the body. And you can do nothing to stop it since it flees from the nose. So to counteract the effect and also to protect your soul from the devil people say bless you.
3. People express gratitude.
Another reason from people saying bless you is this, people in the olden times believed that it is good luck if somebody is sneezing in your direction. So they said expressed their gratitude by asking God to bless them.
4. The Heart STOPS for a millisecond.
This is actually the most common belief that led to phrase gaining popularity. It is said that when you sneeze your heart stops for a millisecond. And people give you blessings to overcome that short lapse in your mortal life. They believe that the sneezer has overcome death and hence celebrates them coming back to life.
5. It is a polite gesture.
Okay, this one is sweet and sane at the same time. Though it does not give any demoniacal explanation (which sounds interesting!) it is the most acceptable one. Why not just bless everyone on the way! Saying bless you is definitely a good thing. And nobody likes sneezing, for obvious reasons, so someone blessing you definitely feels good!
