Superstitions: When Someone Sneezes Why Do We Say "Bless You"

Tiberius Caesar in AD 150 would ride around in his chariot and shout “Bless you” to any member of the public who sneezed and “bless you, bless you” to the second and third sneezes.  Evidently the offer of blessing arose from a serious disease that attacked early Romans in which sneezing was the main symptom.  Suffers frequently died as a result although it was believed that the more blessings offered the less likely the chance of death.

It was also thought to be a form of well-wishing.  “God Bless you” and “God keep you” were offerings of good health and care to those who sneezed.

The old word for sneezing was “sternutation”.  According to ancient mythology when the god Prometheus made the first man from clay he immediately started sneezing (suffering from sternutation) because Prometheus had stolen the celestial fire from the sun to make the first man and apparently a cold in the nose was the result.  The ancient Gentiles therefore worshiped the sneezer.

Sneezing was also common among suffers of the bubonic plague during the Middle Ages in Europe, and so the custom of blessing the sneezer continues to this day as a worthy precaution.

This proverb can be found in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

“If you sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger

Sneeze on a Tuesday, kiss a stranger,

Sneeze on a Wednesday, sneeze for a letter,

Sneeze on a Thursday, something better,

Sneeze on a Friday, sneeze for sorrow,

Sneeze on a Saturday, you see your sweetheart tomorrow,

Sneeze on a Sunday, and the devil will have domination over you all week.”