The origin of the benediction after sneezing, a custom well-nigh
universal, is involved in obscurity. A popular legend says that, before
the time of Jacob, men sneezed but once, as the shock proved fatal. The
patriarch, however, obtained by intercession a relaxation of this law,
on condition that every sneeze should be consecrated by an ejaculatory
prayer.[387] According to a well-known myth of classical antiquity,
Prometheus formed of clay the model of a man, and desiring to animate
the lifeless figure, was borne to heaven by the Goddess Minerva, where
he filled a reed with celestial fire stolen from a wheel of the Sun’s
chariot. Returning then to earth, he applied the magical reed to the
nostrils of the image, which thereupon became a living man, and began its
existence by sneezing. Prometheus, delighted with his success, uttered
a fervent wish for the welfare of his newly formed creature. The latter
thenceforward always repeated aloud the same benediction whenever he
heard any one sneeze, and enjoined upon his children the same practice,
which was thus transmitted to succeeding generations.
Famianus Strada, the Italian Jesuit historian (1572-1649), in his
“Prolusiones Academicæ,” relates that one day, when Cicero was present
at a performance of the Roman opera, he began to sneeze, whereupon the
entire audience, irrespective of rank, arose and with one accord cried
out, “God bless you!” or, as the common phrase was, “May Jupiter be with
thee!” Whereat three young men named Fannius, Fabalus, and Lemniscus, who
were lounging in one of the boxes, began an animated discussion in regard
to the antiquity of this custom, which all believed to have originated
with Prometheus.[388]
Even in the time of Aristotle, salutation after sneezing was considered
an ancient custom;[389] and references to it are to be found in the
writings of Roman authors. Pliny narrates in his “Natural History” that
the Emperor Tiberius Cæsar, who was known as one of the most melancholy
and unsociable of men, scrupulously exacted a benediction from his
attendants whenever he sneezed, whether in his palace or while driving
in his chariot; and Apuleius, the platonic philosopher of the second
century, alludes to the subject in his story of “The Fuller’s Wife.”
Although the fact of the existence of this custom centuries before
the Christian era is beyond cavil, yet a very general popular belief
attributes its origin to a much later period. The Italian historian,
Carlo Sigonio, voices this belief in his statement that the practice
began in the sixth century, during the pontificate of Gregory the Great.
At this period a virulent pestilence raged in Italy, which proved fatal
to those who sneezed. The Pope, therefore, ordered prayers to be said
against it, accompanied by certain signs of the cross.[390] And the
people were wont also to say to those who sneezed, “God help ye!”[391] a
revival of a custom dating back to prehistoric times.
Again, Jacobus de Voragine (1230-98) wrote as follows in the “Golden
Legend,” a popular religious work of the Middle Ages:—
For a right grete and grevous maladye: for as the Romayns
had in the lenton lyved sobrely and in contynence, and after
at Ester had receyvd theyr Savyour; after they disordered
them in etyng, in drynkyng, in playes, and in lecherye. And
therefore our Lord was meuyed ayenst them and sent them a grete
pestelence, which was called the Botche of impedymye, and that
was cruell and sodayne, and caused peple to dye in goyng by
the waye, in pleying, in leeying atte table, and in spekyng
one with another sodeynly they deyed. In this manere somtyme
snesyng they deyed; so that whan any persone was herd snesyng,
anone they that were by said to hym, _God helpe you_, or _Cryst
helpe_, and yet endureth the custome. And also whan he sneseth
or gapeth, he maketh to fore his face the signe of the crosse
and blessith hym. And yet endureth this custome.
The Icelander, when he sneezes, says, “God help me!” and to another
person who sneezes he says, “God help you!” In Icelandic tradition the
custom dates from a remote period, when the Black Pest raged virulently
in portions of the country, and the mortality therefrom was great.
At length the scourge reached a certain farm where lived a brother
and sister, and they observed that the members of the household who
succumbed to the disease were first attacked by a violent paroxysm of
sneezing; therefore they were wont to exclaim “God help me!” when they
themselves sneezed. Of all the inhabitants of that district, these two
were the only ones who survived the pest, and hence the Icelanders,
throughout succeeding generations, have continued the pious custom thus
originated.[392]
In mediæval German poetry are to be found occasional references to
this subject, as in the following passage quoted in Grimm’s “Teutonic
Mythology:” “The pagans durst not sneeze, even though one should say,
‘God help thee.’” And in the same work allusion is made to a quaint bit
of fairy-lore about enchanted sprites sneezing under a bridge, that some
one may call out “God help,” and undo the spell.
In the year 1542 the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, received a
visit in Florida from a native chief named Guachoya, and during their
interview the latter sneezed. Immediately his attendants arose and
saluted him with respectful gestures, at the same time saying: “May the
Sun guard thee, be with thee, enlighten thee, magnify thee, protect thee,
favor thee,” and other similar good wishes. And the Spaniards who were
present were impressed by the fact that, in connection with sneezing,
even more elaborate ceremonies were observed by savage tribes than those
which obtained among civilized nations. And hence they reasoned that
such observances were natural and instinctive with all mankind.[393] We
have the testimony of the earliest English explorers that the custom of
salutation after sneezing was common in the remotest portions of Africa
and in the far East. Speke and Grant were unable to discover any trace
of religion among the natives of equatorial Africa, except in their
practice of uttering an Arabic ejaculation or prayer whenever a person
sneezed.[394]
The Portuguese traveler, Godinho, wrote that whenever the emperor of
Monomotapa sneezed, acclamations were universal throughout his realm;
and in Guinea in the last century, whenever a person of rank sneezed,
every one present knelt down, clapped their hands, and wished him every
blessing. The courtiers of the king of Sennaar in Nubia are wont on the
occasion of a royal sneeze to turn their backs on their sovereign while
vigorously slapping the right hip.[395] Among the Zulu tribes, sneezing
is viewed as a favorable symptom in a sick person, and the natives
are accustomed to return thanks after it. In Madagascar, when a child
sneezes, its mother invokes the divine blessing, conformably to European
usage; and in Persia the sneezer is the recipient of congratulations and
good wishes.
In the “Zend-Avesta,” or sacred writings of the Persian religion, is
the injunction: “And whensoever it be that thou hearest a sneeze given
by thy neighbor, thou shalt say unto him, _Ahunavar Ashim-Vuhu_, and so
shall it be well with thee.”[396] In Egypt, if a man sneeze, he says,
“Praise be to God!” and all present, with the exception of servants,
rejoin, “God have mercy upon you!”[397]
The Omahas, Dakotas, and other Sioux tribes of American Indians attach
a peculiar importance to sneezing. Thus, if one of their number sneeze
once, he believes that his name has been called either by his son, his
wife, or some intimate friend. Hence he at once exclaims, “My son!” But
if he sneeze twice, he says, “My son and his mother!”[398]
In France the rules of etiquette formerly required that a gentleman who
sneezed in the presence of another should take off his hat, and on the
subsidence of the paroxysm he was expected formally to return the salutes
of all present. The salutation of sneezers by removal of the hat was
customary in England also. Joseph Hall, who was Bishop of Exeter in 1627,
wrote that when a superstitious man sneezed he did not reckon among his
friends those present who failed to uncover.
The Italians are wont to salute the sneezer with the ejaculation _Viva_,
or _Felicità_; and it has been reasoned that the latter expression may
have been sometimes employed under like circumstances by the ancient
Romans, because an advertisement on the walls of Pompeii concludes by
wishing the people Godspeed with the single word _Felicitas_!
So, too, in Ireland the sneezer is greeted with fervent benedictions,
such as, “The blessing of God and the holy Mary be upon you!” for such
invocations are thought to counteract the machinations of evil-disposed
fairies.[399]
The Siamese have a unique theory of their own on this subject. They
believe that the Supreme Judge of the spiritual world is continually
turning over the pages of a book containing an account of the life and
doings of every human being; and when he comes to the page relating to
any individual, the latter never fails to sneeze. In this way the Siamese
endeavor to give a plausible reason for the prevalence of sneezing among
men, and also for the accompanying salutation. In Siam and Laos the
ordinary expression is, “May the judgment be favorable to you.”[400]
In the Netherlands a person who sneezes is believed thereby to place
himself in the power of a witch, unless some one invokes a divine
blessing; and such notions afford a plausible explanation of one theory
of the origin of this custom.[401]
Grimm (vol. iv. p. 1637) refers to a passage in the “Avadanas,” or
Buddhist parables, in which the rat is represented as wishing the cat joy
when she sneezes. And in the department of Finistère in northwest France,
when a horse sneezes or coughs the people say, “May St. Eloy assist you!”
St. Eloy was the guardian of farriers and the tutelar god of horses.[402]
The natives of the Fiji Islands exclaim after a sneeze, “_Mbula_,” that
is, “May you live!” or “Health to you!” And the sneezer politely responds
with “_Mole_,” “Thanks.” Formerly Fijian etiquette was yet more exacting
and required the sneezer to add, “May you club some one!” or “May your
wife have twins!”[403]
A Spanish writer, Juan Cervera Bachiller, in his book “Creencias y
superstitiones,” Madrid, 1883, says that this widely diffused practice
appears to have originated partly from religious motives and partly from
gallantry, and that it is as obviously a relic of pagan times as are the
various omens which have ever been associated with sneezing.
The apparently independent origin of the custom of salutation after
sneezing among nations remote from each other, and its prevalence
from time immemorial alike in the most cultured communities and among
uncivilized races, have been thought to furnish striking evidence of the
essential similarity of human minds, whatever their environment.