The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-19
FOLKLORE ABOUT sNEEZING.
and UnrhYmed, Brought Together
and Explained.

Popular wit and wisdom, Rhymed
and UnrhYIned, Brought Together
and Explained.
From the London Pail Mall Gazette
The custom of uttering good wish
when a person sneezes dates from the
earliest times, and according to Strada
the practice originated from a belief
among the ancients of the danger at
tending the act of sneezing, it being the
habit in those days for the person
sneezing to offer a short prayer to the
gods, such as Jupiter, help me-" Aft
erward it became the rule for the by
ISLANDERS to offer the prayer this be-
ing usually God bless you'' for the
benefit of the sneezer, person who
sneezed being at one time supposed to
be under the influence of fairies and
demons. and as the name of God, re-
PEELED all evil spirits, the benediction of
God bless you!" drove away the de-
mons, and counteracted their influ-
ence. Among the ancients, Homer and
Pliny likewise refer to the custom, as
do the Jewish rabbis and others, the
legend of the Hebrews being to the
effect that when Adam and Eve sin
ned in the Garden of Eden it was de-
creed that man should die by sudden
death, ending in a fit of sneezing, which
would probably be induced by the
sweat of mans brow being checked by
a chill. But Jacob-evidently set back
few years for the benefit of the story
saw this terrible state of affairs, and
fought with the angel over the point
as to whether men should fall to pieces
when they sneeze. Jacob gained the
victory. but the angel made a condi-
ton that the sneeze should only prove
fatal when standers-by omitted the
words God bless you!'
1t so happened afterward that Jacob
sneeZed one day when no one was near
to utter the pious ejaculation, with the
result that he became sick and expired
of a lingering illness, which was quite
contrary to the heretofore sudden death
by sneezing. So much for the Rab-
binical legend Coming to other of the
ancients, Polydore Vergil tells us that
1t took its rise at the time of the great
plague in Italy in 55S, when the infect
ed fell down dead sneezing, though .ap-
parently in sound and robust health;
and Thucydides also informs us that
sneezing was fatal symptom of the
great Athenian plague. The custom of
saluting the sneezer, before referred to-
was one which the ancient Greeks
claimed to have derived from Prone
theus, who stole celestial fire to ami
mate his newly made figure of clay,
tradition asserting that as the fire per-
reated its frame the figure sneezed.
which caused Prometheus to invoke
blessings upon it. Be this as 1t may.
the practice dates from the most an
cient days, Aristotle having a reference
to it: while we know that the Greek
custom was followed by the old Ro-
mans, and at the present day the Por-
tuguese and BraZiians have a some
what similar legend to that Of the
Jews given above.
Coming now to our own country IL is
somewhat quaint and interesting to
find superstition of the sort still ex-
listing in these so-called enlightened
days of universal education in our own
midst. 1t being still the custom in the
Midlands when a child sneezes for the
eranddams to cry out. God bless youl"
while IL is also A very common belief
that any one who sneezes three times
before breakfast will shortly receive a
present of some kind. this supersti-
ton taking no count of the chilliness
of the carly morning. Another pretty
general superstition regarding sneez-
ing is: