THE SNEEZE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 14, 18 January 1933, Page 16

THE SNEEZE

UNIVERSAL REGARD

QUEER CUSTOMS RULE

A HEBREW STORY

There -is something queer about sneezing. Every race of people in the world but the English' has regarded a sneeze with superstitious awe. since.the dim, red dawn of man. So did we English up to- Cromwell's time, when the Puritans knocked the nonsense out of us, as. theyconsidered, by making things.. hot for anyone who celebrated a sneeze in the conventional manner. Millions of people in inodcrn Europe, from. Italy to Lapland and from Belgium to Kussia, automatically remark "God be with you!" or "May your health be good!" when, a companion sneezes.•'.' The ;fbrmula "Varies ' slightjy. In-/Germany,--for example, it -is- "-Giite gesundheit!'.' 'or :: just. Gesundheitt'' Ir. Prance and, l'rench:speakmg Belgium it is-;"Sairte! J) or "Dieu vous benisse!'' In the. poorer quarters of Koine arid other Italian cities it may be:'the somewhat startling.. "Kgli nascbi!" which, means "May: you have maJe, children!'.'-■: :. . :.:::....; --.: .This is.yery .simply explained, con-tenip-tuously remark the-guesscrs. "■ They wiJlsay that Tit datcs-frpni-tire time, of the: Great "■Blagno;"."", when you: feared that a fellp-w might.-be-sidcening for:it if: Jib sneeze.d,"the e^uly - synrptoms having: some i-esemljliincc to :thosc of a, chill. , But that explanation will. not do. .■.."A11:-'over the world, among the remotest races as w.ell as the Europeans, to-day, and back thTough . the.. ancieiit civilisations Of Epme, Greece, .' Jndea; and India, a; sneeze was a signal for some superstitious- remark r-or. act. : . Detachmettt's: of head-hunting abo-; riginal-tribes dn the jungles of Formosa; halt or suddenly change direction for a-while,-when out:on long treks, at the sound of a few: sneezes front their party. Sometimes they even abandon the journey- and return. A Japanese poem of A.D". 905 reveals that at that time .you: postponed :a journey if yon heard a sneeze at its start. Thc^niodorn Tonga Islanders,-out in the South Seas, do the" same. /Among the Fijians, Samoans,; and certain other South SeaIslanders one often heais the comment "May you. live!-'or "Bless you!" on a sneeze. When they sneeze the Kaffirs are wont to call down a blessing on themselves, as-do some other-African races.; In modern Mexico aii invoked blessing-; greeted- tlio - sneezer. -:-In; ancient Koine a, "Salve!" ' • : GOOD AND BAD OJIENS. Japanese and Chinese in the old days regarded sneezing as a- sign that someone was affectionately.-. calling tho sneezer to- mmd; but in China the omens.of sneezing varied according to the'circumstances. In India a Hindu chancing to sneeze whilo washing in the, 'Ganges on a fresh morning makes a -:soi't.;.of sign .of the cross; -having tbuchftd; his forehead, nose, chin, and cheeks with, his fingertips,, he -lecomjneneps his prayers. Ho does this after every sneeze. In France, a century ago, a writer on etiquette told you that, having sneezed, you ought >to invoke a blessing on your comrade if he heard you sneeze and omitted to invoke a blessing on you. An Italian child's primer, dated 1553, gives among the duties of a; good child, youth, or man, to society:'"Abstaining from scratching your head',: putting you fingers in your mouth, crossing one knee :over the other in sitting v . .and being prompt in saluting" anyone who may1 sneeze, and in returning thanks to. any who on such an occasion may have wished you well." (You were also never to blow your nose in company!) There is an amusing old yarn, which may well be true, about a black tribal king in Africa who expected anyone who heard a blessing invoked on him after sneezing; to repeat it^to tho next man, within earshot. The result was that within about a couple:of minutes or : less :of .the royal sneeze the entire capital was echoing to a clamour of shouted blessings. The Jews have an interesting and . well-authenticated legend—-well authenticated, I mean, in the sense that it,was taught for centuries by medieval rabbis in various parts of .Europe-^-tb the effect that until the. time -of Jacob you promptly died, from shock'if you. sneezed. This doom was revoked in responso to an intercession/ bjr JacoT), who undertook that in all nations a sneeze should be hallowed by. saying the words "God bless you!/ 1 v: "■•". ' .' . IN HINDUSTAN. '. '' In- ancient Hindustan bystanders said "May you-live!?' when you sneezed, to which you replied "Long life to yoiil^' ?Keferences to sneezing customs in the Gagga Jataka, one of the:books of the1 Buddhist Scriptures, aro to be. l'ound, dating from long before the Christian, era. .; ... ■••■.• Now ; ia glance at ancient Greece. I find that Ammiauus has an epigram about.a person, whoso nose was so long that he never heard it sneeze, and hence'never said "God bless." Homer tells of Penelope rejoicing at the sneeze of her son Telemaehus. But iv old Greece "it depended." There :were. various omens; If a person sneezed between midnight and the following noon-it was lucky, but if between noon, and midnight, unlucky. If a man sneezed at table while food was. being cleared away, or if your left-hand neighbourat table sneezed, it was an unlucky omen. If sneeze: came from your right-hand neighbour the omen was lucky.' If,, in the:- undertaking Vof business, two or four, sneezes happened it Tyas-a lucky omen./ If more" than fouri'the omen; was non-committal. If one?or three, unlucky; If two men, fixing up a business deal, sneezed together the affair would bo to -the aiyantage of both of. them. . .■.';. XENOPHON'S STORY. ; : : An interesting, sneezing episode is to be foundrin Senophon's Anabasis, Lib. Ill,,cap. 2. ..At the council of Greek generals held after the death'of Cyrus Xerio'phon" rose and made a speech. He set before his comrades the treachery of their late associate Ariaeus, the serious difficulties attendant upon the position of the Greeks, and the necessity for immediate and vigorous action. Just as he had alluded to the. probability, of a tough fight and had invoked the aid of the- gods, one. of the company sneezed. He paused, for a moment in his harangue and everyone present did reverence to Jupiter. The incident seemed to hearten everyone, Xenophon added: "Even now, my comrades, while wp were talking of safety, Zeus, the saviour, has sent us an omen: and I think it would become us to offer to the god a sacrifice of thanksgiving for our 'preservation." Each officer put up his hand and all made their vows and sang the paean before the council of war proceeded.