GOD BLESS YOU

 "God bless you both " said Robert in a comment on my last post.

Why? Did he think that The Old Girl and I had been sneezing?

It's a pretty strange thing to say to people that he knows are atheists.

Let's assume that he did think that we were suffering from a bout of sternutation. Why then does he have to wish that some mythical and culturally alien being should be interested in our ailment or could possibly be able to influence an outcome?

 Saying “bless you” or “God bless you” after someone sneezes seems to be a reflex response. How and where did this start?

Historically, sneezes were thought to be an omen or warning from the gods, according to W. David Myers, a professor of history at Fordham University. 

“For European Christians, when the first plague that weakened the now Christian Roman Empire around 590, Pope Gregory the Great believed that a sneeze was an early warning sign of plague, so he commanded Christians to respond to a sneeze with a blessing,” he said.

In ancient times, people believed that sneezing would allow evil spirits to enter your body, and saying “God bless you” kept out those evil spirits.

“That was certainly another belief,” said Dr. Myers. “But other responses to sneezing — Gesundheit, in German; Salud, in Spanish — came from the idea that a sneeze is a sign of divine beneficence.”

OK, I understand that. Coughing, sneezing, farting (the liquid type) and falling over was a dead (pun intended) giveaway of having the plague and it's interesting that today, in the time of our modern 'plague' Covid -19, that people in supermarkets, on the street, on public transport, and in social gatherings look aghast at someone who sneezes which is something that we should have all been doing all of our lives. Who hasn't thought that the Japanese student wearing a mask on  a bus or in the street looked a bit silly? Well now, I guess they have the last laugh.

Mind you, Robert might just have being kind in which case I say "You're welcome".