"Achoo!"
"Bless you."
"Thank you."
What sort of odd ritual is this? Does anyone else think about how weird this is every time it happens? Or is it just me?
Not only do I feel compelled to say "bless you" if someone around me sneezes, I also have to say "thank you" if someone "blesses" me. I've tried to stop doing both, but end up feeling rude. Have you stopped to think about this?
I checked out my valuable resource, Wikipedia, to find out about this little exchange. There are two versions of the explanation of "blessing" someone who sneezes. The first one has to do with an outbreak of the plague in Rome in 590 A.D. Sneezing was thought to be an early symptom, so you had to pray and bless people who sneezed so that the disease would not spread.
The second possible explanation is from the old belief that sneezing had to do with evil spirits. Like, your soul could be tossed out if you sneezed, or sneezing was a way to expel evil spirits. So "God bless you" was used to fend off evil.
My question is, how in the world has this stuck for so long? Why are we so stinkin' polite for no particular reason? Why do we give special treatment to sick people who are spreading their nasty germs?
These are the questions I ask myself late at night...the important issues I ponder...
2 comments:
I heard this explanation: when a person sneezes, their heart stops for just an instant. When they resume breathing, the person nearby says "God blessed you." Meaning they are thankful that God spared them and let them breathe again! Don't know if this is true or not, but I kind of liked it!
Ha - I like this one too!
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