With winter firmly upon us, we are all trying our best to dodge the usual seasonal nasties such as colds and ‘flu. This month I took a look at the superstitions surrounding sneezing.
Saying, “Bless you!” when someone sneezes is possibly one of the oldest superstitions we act upon today and, possibly, it is the most widely practised in the western world. Not many people can help but say it when they hear someone sneeze.
Here in England, we are generally taught that the custom began with The Great Plague in 1665, and gave rise to the nursery rhyme Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses where a sneeze foretold imminent death: “A-tishoo, A-tishoo, we all fall down!” However, there are references to the superstition dating back as far as 77AD when Roman philosopher, Pliny the Elder, asked the question, “Why is it that we salute a person when he sneezes…” Later, in 1483, William Caxton translated a popular religious work written by Italian archbishop Jacobus de Voragine in 1275. The text describes a pestilence suffered by the Christian Romans which was so vicious and sudden that if someone was heard sneezing, the person nearest to them would utter, “God helps you” because the victim would be dead within minutes. This particular text pre-dates the first recorded instance of bubonic plague by over a century. Whichever devastating disease gave rise to the practice, it seems that blessing someone was a reaction to the horror of knowing a person could not defend themself against the virus.
Over time, the custom of blessing someone who sneezed became less about the medical danger of the act and took on a more spiritual meaning. It was believed that the expulsion of air from a person’s body would take a part of their spirit with it (as breath was seen as a person’s soul). At the moment of the sneeze a person’s body would be vulnerable to possession by demons and evil spirits so the blessing was seen as a form of protection.
Fortunately, these days, a sneeze is not an omen of instant death, but it could be an indicator that there are some germs around, and it might be a good time to stay away from other people. During WW2, the Ministry of Health issued posters, designed by H. M. Bateman, with the slogan “Coughs and sneezes spread diseases. Trap the germs by using your handkerchiefs. Help to keep the Nation fighting fit.” This was followed just after the war, in 1946, with a Public Information Film which carried the same message – but without the ‘fighting fit’ part. Handkerchiefs are not widely used in this day and age so the NHS advice during the Covid-19 pandemic was to “cover your nose and mouth when you cough and sneeze, then wash your hands and clean your surroundings”.
Whether your use a handkerchief, a tissue or just your hand, it is always good advice to catch a sneeze and not let it disperse into the air. Of course, not all sneezes are diseases – sometimes they are caused by irritants such as dust or pollen in the air. Whatever makes you sneeze, next time listen out and you will probably find that at least one person close by will say, “Bless you!”
Wishing you a happy, healthy, sneeze-free new year!
