[lit-ideas] Re: God bless you

Prove it.
 
Julie Krueger
========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: God bless you  
Date: 7/30/2004 10:18:51 PM Central Daylight Time  From: _atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:    
JK:
> I always thought the "ashes to  ashes"  was a reference to the cremation of
> the bodies to prevent  the spread of the  plague.\


You thought wrong, darling.   What can I say?

Mike Geary
without doubt
in Memphis

-----  Original Message ----- 
From: <JulieReneB@xxxxxxx>
To:  <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 9:51  PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: God bless you


>
>  <<'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.  >>
> I always thought the "ashes to ashes"   was a reference to the cremation of
> the bodies to prevent the spread of  the  plague.\
> Julie Krueger
>
>
>  ========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] Re:  God bless you
> Date: 7/30/2004 7:58:14 PM Central Daylight Time   From:
_atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> (mailto:atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)    To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>  (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:
> Ah, my dear Andy,  you are so yesterday.  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."
>
> 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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