“Bless you”

Whenever someone sneezes, you say “Bless You” or hear someone else say these words.

·      Why?

o  It goes back centuries. From superstitions, people believed a sneezed released the soul through the nose, would stop the devil from claiming a persons freed soul, also believed that the person would die and sneezing would bring them back and by saying bless you it was a way of welcoming back.

·      When?

o  It originated thousands of years ago.

·      How?

o  The phrase is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic.  

·      Where?

o  Rome and Greece