Why Do We Say Bless You?

Here’s another strange post for you wonderful people.

Something I have been thinking about today, is why do we say bless you when someone sneezes?

We don’t say cough you when someone coughs (well I do occasionally if I’m a bizarre mood) or anything when someone makes another noise such as blowing their noise or burping.

So why do we say bless you when someone sneezes?

If I am out in public and a person standing close to me sneezes, then I automatically say bless you as I would feel extremely rude not too.

Thinking about it, this is really strange.

I have researched the reasoning behind this, and found that sneezing was associated with ‘illness’ meaning when someone sneezed you wouldn’t ignore this as it could be a sign of bad health. This is going back many years ago, when it was a sign to worry, but now we know that sneezing doesn’t mean we have to worry. For example it is common to sneeze after smelling a scent, as we can react to the particles that enter our nostrils. 

Now saying ‘bless you’ is just common courtesy, and this tradition has never really ended.

22 thoughts on “Why Do We Say Bless You?”

  3. sweetpea2love says:
    Reply

    Lauren, when I was little I asked the very same question. My grandmother explained, “When someone sneezes their heart skips a beat and we bless them so the heart regains its normal rhythm.” Just sharing my thoughts on the lovely phrase, Bless you…. thanks for the memories this morning my dear ~ Bless you… ❤

    Take care and happy blogging to ya, from Laura ~

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  4. Ritu says:
    Reply

    Its like the rhyme, Ring a Ring a Roses, was all about the Black Plague!
    Roses were used to mask the smell of death that was around everywhere, and people would have posies with rose petals in them…
    Ring a Ring a Roses
    a pocket full of posies
    the sneeze part was that if you got the plague, you knew from the sneeze stage. and we all fall down.. well, if you got it, you would die, hence the we all fall down!
    Atishoo, Atishoo
    We all fall down!
    I think Bless you was coined then too as if you were sneezing, and you got the plague, it was almost certain death, and only God could help, so Bless you was all that could be said!

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  12. saadia peerzada says:
    Reply

    We say bless you because of the following medically backed reasons:
    the suppression of a sneeze causes a massive build-up of pressure in our head, which can cause injuries such as a burst eardrum, tearing blood vessels and muscles in the head, damaging the sinuses and even, in rare cases, brain haemorrhages.
    and the jerk caused by a sneeze can cause all sorts of muscle strain or bone problems.
    Hope that helped 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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