Keep Sneezing

chillibreeze writer — Nilima Pandey

Each time you sneeze, you probably don’t give it a lot of thought. After all, we’ve been sneezing since the time we were babies and we all know that it is caused by when foreign particles enter our nose and irritate the nasal mucous. But sneezes are not as simple as they seem; they are associated with lots of beliefs and superstitions around the world, ranging from the absurd to the downright freaky!

Bless you!
During the old ages, it was believed that one’s heart stopped beating when one sneezed. So if you are still alive after a sneeze, that’s because someone must have blessed you! It was also believed that sneezing was a way of ridding oneself of the Devil, so they said “God Bless you” to rid you of the Devil and keep evil spirits away from. Others believed that they were getting possessed by the demons so by saying “God bless you”, they were preventing evil from taking over their souls. This also originated from the common belief was that during a sneeze, the soul leaves the body and creates a vacancy for the Devil to swoop in.

Beliefs from around the world
Interestingly, during the bubonic plague, sneezing was an early sign of catching the infection and hence of imminent death. By blessing the person they’d protect him/her from this imminent doom. Since many people were killed due to lack of a cure, they blessed the person sneezing and also would get wary of them.

According to the Wikipedia, during the middle ages in Europe, one’s life was tied to one’s breath and expelling it as in a sneeze led people to believe it to be fatal and so the response, “God bless you”. Germans say “Gesundheit” after a sneeze which means ‘good health’, recognizing it as a mere sign of coming down with illness.

In Eastern Asia, sneezing is considered a sign of being talked about. It is believed that the person sneezing is being mentioned by someone in some part of the world! The number of sneezes is as important. One sneeze means the discussion about you is good; two sneezes mean the discussions could be malicious.

In France, when one sneezes, they say ‘May your dreams come true’ – so sneezing is a lucky charm for the French. Three sneezes in succession in Holland means its going to be a sunny day tomorrow!

Superstitions associated with sneezing
In northern parts of India, sneezing before stepping out of the house or at the onset of a new task or journey is considered ill luck. Whereas, in the western parts of India, sneezing means that someone is thinking about you. For the married women it is believed that it is their mother-in-law who’s thinking about them.

In the Badaga community of the Tamils, it is considered a good omen if the father sneezes before the umbilical cord has been cut when the baby is born. In some parts of India, it is also believed that while talking about something if someone nearby sneezes, then there is a strong possibility of your talks or thoughts coming true. In West Bengal it is called ‘Shotti hachi’ meaning if someone sneezes while a person is talking about something it will come true, whether good or bad. This idea is also shared in some parts of south India, especially Karnataka.

In the other parts, like Tamil Nadu and Kerala it is considered inauspicious to sneeze upon an idea or journey, just like the north Indians; though a subsequent sneeze cancels the effect of the first one. However the general response towards a sneeze in India is by blessing the person to live long; like in Bihar it is ‘Chattanji’, in Oriya it is ‘Buda/budi te hai tha’, in Tamil it is ‘nooru aayisu/ deerghaayisu’, in Kashmiri it is ‘Bismillah/ Kustaan chu yaad karan’.

There is no end to such quirks, beliefs or superstitions, and the more you feed them, the more they grow. All of us have, some time or the other in our lifetime, wanted to believe in such quirky forecasts. I remember as children we would believe in two Mynah birds bringing luck and one bringing bad luck and till date I tend to ignore a single Mynah and eagerly look for the second one!

Many such beliefs are widely practiced in India and I’m sure the world over. Hiccups means someone is remembering you; biting your tongue means you are being cursed by someone; and fluttering of right eyelid is ill luck while fluttering of left eyelid is good luck. I think we are all entitled to some madness of our own to spice up our lives, so don’t suppress your sneeze. You may actually die doing it, so just sneeze away, but do cover it up or sneeze into your upper sleeve.

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in April, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

An M.Sc in Zoology, Nilima has done short stints in copywriting, proofreading and teaching spoken English. She likes writing fiction and non-fiction, the quirkier the topic, the better! She believes that if her writing doesn't interest her, it won't interest others either.

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