Bless you is said many ways

Bless you. We say the phrase many times, often without thinking. At our house, even Gracie, the calico cat, says, “bless you” when someone sneezes. If there are multiple sneezes, she only says it after the first one. Of course, she speaks in her own language. She lets us know in no uncertain terms that she expects us to respond with, “Thank you, Gracie.”
A sneeze is involuntary and can travel at a speed of 100 miles per hour, spreading germs up to five feet away. It can be a response to an irritant, such as pepper or an allergen. It is one of the things that makes the common cold so miserable. Some people sneeze as a result of simply being outside in the sunlight or from smelling a strong odor. That last one was surprising to me.
I had often heard that the custom of blessing a sneezing person was to protect their soul. I looked it up to see if I was correct and found that nobody actually knows for certain when or how the custom started. I did find that almost every article from multiple sources said exactly the same thing, often in the exact same words.
According to “How Stuff Works,” the custom probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say “Jupiter preserve you” or “Good health to you,” and the Greeks would wish each other “long life.” The phrase “God bless you” is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic. It was thought that the incantation would protect the recipient from harm as sneezing is a sign of one form of the plague.
This caused me to look up plague symptoms. The Center for Disease Control listed a whole host of alarming symptoms for bubonic plague, septicemia plague and pneumonic plague but sneezing wasn’t one of them. Another source stated that plague victims began sneezing as the disease progressed. Having never had the plague, I can’t say for sure.
The plague also inspired the nursery rhyme, “Ring around the Rosy.” But that is a different column.
Some people prefer to say “Gesundheit” after someone sneezes. This word comes from Germany, and it literally means “health.” It is supposed to keep the sneeze from being a harbinger of something serious. Plus by saying “Gesundheit” instead of “God bless you”, there is less chance of offending any atheists you may encounter.
I thought saying, “bless you,” was solely a European and American tradition. It turns out that many countries have a saying to acknowledge a sneeze. People in Arabic countries say, “Praise be to God.” Hindus say, “Live!” or “Live well!” Some countries have special responses for children. In Russia, after children are given the traditional response, “Be healthy,” they are also told “Grow big”. So if you are uncomfortable with saying, “God bless you,” try saying, ”May you live 100 years,” which is what they say in China when a child sneezes.
I had always heard that blessing someone was a way of keeping the soul safe and where it belonged. A soul was thought to escape during a sneeze. Invoking God’s blessing would keep the devil from claiming the freed soul. If the soul didn’t leave the body by itself, then the devil could enter the person during a sneeze and snatch the soul that way. Once upon a time people assumed the heart stopped during a sneeze and the saying would either restart the heart and/or welcome the person back to life. If only it were that easy to bring someone back to life after the heart stops.
These days acknowledging a sneeze is merely common courtesy. It is a custom that has lost meaning over the years. We no longer believe the old superstitions. We omit the word “God” although it is implied. For people with allergies, the phrase can even become irritating as it can be a reminder that they have no control over their misery.
Our family did not practice this custom when I was small. My mom finds it strange that I say it now. I find it comforting to think that somebody cares enough to bless me.
After all, we all need all the blessings we can get. God bless you, whether you have just sneezed or not.

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