Bless You
ACHOOO! Someone just sneezed. What do you say to them? You might say, 'excuse you’ or ‘gesundheit’ (German for health). But you are mostly likely to say, ‘bless you’ if you are from an English-speaking country. You may also hear the full phrase, ‘God bless you.’ So, today we will explore this phrase and try to find its origin.
Possible Origins
One common belief about sneezing is that your heart stops. Because your heart stops, you need a blessing in the form of, “bless you.” I am pleased to tell you that your heart does not stop when you sneeze. The act of sneezing does affect blood pressure and can momentarily pause the rhythm of your heart. The sensation of your heart’s rhythm changing is often referred to as skipping a beat. People may have confused their heart skipping a beat with their heart stopping.
Another archaic (out-of-date) belief is that your soul can escape your body through a sneeze. To prevent the devil from taking your soul, a blessing is given.
The most likely origin is from Pope Gregory I. He began his papacy during the Roman Plague of 590. It is often included as part of the Plague of Justinian which killed 30 to 50 million (estimated) people and wiped out (killed) almost half of the world’s populations, Pope Gregory made a recommendation. He decreed that after someone sneezes, you should say, “God bless you,” while making the sign of the cross over their mouth. Clearly, he was aware that sneezing had something to do with the death toll. It was a side affect of the plague. It probably wasn’t a good idea to go up to the person and put your hands near their mouth afterwards though.
Nowadays, saying bless you is just an instinctive response. For most people, it has lost its religious meaning and is just what you say to someone after they sneeze. Since we don’t usually say anything after someone sneezes in Korea, it might be a strange thing to hear someone say, “bless you.” An appropriate response is to say, ‘thank you’ and move on with your day.
Dogma
Finally, I am reminded of the business massacre scene in Dogma (1999). Matt Damon’s character, Loki, sneezes and no one says, “bless you.” He almost kills a woman for not saying it. I think it is funny because of our expectations. We expect the people around us (even strangers) to say, "bless you." But when you see someone get offended for such an innocent phrase, you have to question the importance of that phrase. Anyways, I have linked a video clip of that scene. Maybe you see it a different way.
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Reference:
https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/does-your-heart-stop-when-you-sneeze/
https://www.healthline.com/health/does-your-heart-stop-when-you-sneeze#sneeze-syncope
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/well/mind/sneezing-sneezes-god-bless-you-manners-etiquette.html
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/why-do-we-say-god-bless-you-when-we-sneeze
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/140129-justinian-plague-black-death-bacteria-bubonic-pandemic