[lit-ideas] Re: God bless you

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Jul 30, 2004 8:57 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: God bless you

Ah, my dear Andy, you are so yesterday.  


A.A. I was just saying that myself yesterday.


M.G. The sneeze benediction began with
Pope Gregory I in 590 C.E. to fight the a recurrence of the Black Plague (to
which his successor had succumbed).  Gregory ordered not only that litanies,
processions and unceasing prayers be arrayed against the plague, which
directives a lot of masochists rejoiced in and began self-flagellation
parades -- Oh, religion is a dark arena, my friend, enter at your own risk,
but in addition to the prayer and flagellation medications, Gregory directed
that when anyone sneezed they should be blessed to ward off the disease,
hence: "God bless you" -- assuming you were English.  God only knows what
the others were saying -- and who cares really?  Let them die. Long live the
Queen -- depending on your orientation, if you know what I mean.  This
account is supported by the nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie", which
rosie, I'm sure you know that refers to a red mark, supposedly the first
sign of the plague.  "A pocket full of posies"-- obviously refers to sachets
of herbs carried to ward off infection. 'Ashes to ashes" or as some say
"Atischoo, Atischoo"  which I always heard as "A tissue, a tissue" -- like
there was Kleenex in the Dark and Middle Ages -- is a corruption of "Achoo,
achoo" -- a sneeze, which was another sign of infection.  Then of course
there's the lovely ending: "They all fall down"  Or more contemporarinessly:
"And another one down and another down and another one bites the dust."



A.A.  Until I read Robert Paul's post (love that quote from John Lennon), I too 
had believed this version.  What did jump out at me immediately from your 
account, though, was the date, 590.  To my knowledge the plague didn't hit 
Europe for the first time until the middle of the 1300's.  I think, too, the 
flagellationists as a movement were a product of the post Bubonic period.  
Regarding the herbs that were worn around the neck, there is a scientific basis 
for this.  Nutmeg contains the molecule isoeugenol that acts as either 
insecticide or repellent to the fleas that carried the plague. It was in fact 
worn around the neck during outbreaks, as well as used medicinally for 
centuries in China.  It was one of the spices that shaped the modern world.


With a pocket full of posies, 
Andy





Welcome to The Grim Brother's Mother Goose Nursery Crimes.

Mike Geary
Olim Erat, Texas







---"
---"---"--either a reference to the cremation of plague victims or to the
words said in the funeral Mass..."Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Sometimes
line three is rendered as "Atischoo, atischoo"--sneezing, another sign of
infection.
---"We all fall down." -- The Plague was not selective in its victims; both
rich and poor, young and old, succumbed.


The custom of saying "God bless you" after a sneeze was begun literally as a
blessing. Pope Gregory I the Great (540-604 AD) ascended to the Papacy just
in time for the start of the plague in 590 AD (his successor succumbed to
it). To combat the plague Gregory ordered litanies, processions and
unceasing prayer for God's intercession. When someone sneezed, they were
immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not
subsequently develop the plague.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 6:42 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] God bless you


> I can't find the message now.  In case nobody's answered it, the reason we
say "God bless you" after a sneeze is because it was once thought that
sneezing expelled all the life force, i.e. breath, out of the body.  That
created a vacuum for the devil to sneak in, so someone had to quick say God
bless you to keep the devil out.  But you all knew that.
>
> Most traditions are probably this silly.
>
>
> Andy Amago
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