Why do ppl say bless you when some one sneezes ?

Question

Why do ppl say bless you when some one sneezes ?

Answer 1

The Black Plague and typhoid spread through the air and during congregations they say Bless You to prevent it, if someone sneezed.

Answer 2

It was thought that the devil jumped down your throat when you sneeze. The blessing drives him out.

Answer 3

Its allot nicer to say then hey thanks for giving me a snot overcoat.

Answer 4

many answers for that relating to different religions. but what i think is because it shows manners

Answer 5

its shortened from god bless you and it's because you're still alive since when you sneeze your whole body shuts down

Answer 6

Black plague times supposedly, people died so frequently and it seemed that because of plague every time someone sneezed they would die. Hence, God Bless You...

At least that's one explanation.  

Answer 7

God Bless you was a short prayer that your sneeze is just that and not the plague that they were afraid of in Europe many moons ago.

Answer 8

Several possible origins are commonly given. The practice of blessing a sneeze, dating as far back as at least 77 AD, however, is far older than most specific explanations can account for.

One explanation holds that the custom originally began as an actual blessing. Gregory I became Pope in 590 as an outbreak of the bubonic plague was reaching Rome. In hopes of fighting off the disease, he ordered unending prayer and parades of chanters through the streets. At the time, sneezing was thought to be an early symptom of the plague. The blessing ("God bless you!") became a common effort to halt the disease.

A variant of the Pope Gregory I story places it with Pope Gregory VII, then tells the common (though untrue) story of "Ring Around the Rosey" being connected to the same plague.

A legend holds that it was believed that the heart stops when you sneeze, and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating.

Another version says that people used to believe that your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, that sneezing otherwise opened your body to invasion by the Devil or evil spirits, or that sneezing was your body's effort to force out an invading evil spirit. Thus, "bless you" or "God bless you" is used as a sort of shield against evil.

Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began simply as a response for an event that wasn't well understood at the time.

Answer 9

cause its just the right thing to do. If no one else says it, its your duty to say it .