『Saying "God Bless You" to a Sneezer－打噴嚏時說&quo

2001-9-28 22:30:00  出處：  作者：  閱讀 3553 次  
Saying "God Bless You" to a Sneezer
When you sneeze, Americans would say"God Bless You" to you. In many European cultures, sneezing traditionally is associated with death and Americans believe that you are very close to death when you sneeze, because sneezing can expel the soul, and thus life will escape from the body. So they say "God Bless You" to a sneezer as a charm against the danger of the moment. Neglecting this magical words could mean that the sneezer would end up in the next world.
However, many peoples around the world are cheered by hearing someone sneeze. The Maori of New Zealand believe that the creator god Tiki sneezed life into the first human being; the Zulus of southern Africa take the sneeze as the sign of a kind-hearted spirit; and the ancient Hebrews identified sneezing with life, because they recognized that the dead never sneeze. Some American Indian peoples say that a good sneeze clears the brain.
NOTES:
expel 驅逐,排出
Maori 居住於紐西蘭的毛利人
Tiki 波利尼西亞神話中的人類的始祖,創造第一個人的神
Zulu 居住於非洲南部的祖魯人
Hebrew 希伯來人
Identify 認為同一,視為相等

In Canada, We just say "Bless you" to a sneezer.

If you don't believe in God, don't use the word "God".

as we learned this good manner from teacher, no matter we believe in god or not, but we still put " god bless you". i trust it just short the word in Canadia which doesn;t mean to offend the god or discrimination.

It is very sensitive to Christians when never the other people who say about "God". It is an insult to mention "God" in a un respected way, especially if you are not Christian. Most of Chinese are not.  Many are saying "My God" or "Jesus Christ" too often.

I want to know how many people believe god.

In CHINA, We just say "one hundred years old " to a sneezer.

To vipros:

Restriction in using God's name is only within Christian brothers and sisters.  I don't think it is applied to non-christians.  In the Bible teaching, we, christians are warned not to use God's name in any way we like, especially swearing in God's name.  We only mention God when we pray because Jesus told us that he is the Way and if we pray in his name, the Father will listen.

To mingyu73:

I believe in God.

thank you, 意浮, for explaining to us the subtleties in using religion terms! i have christian friends though i am not one yet. i heard people around using "my goodness" or "oh, my, my" to express their pleasant feeling about a surprise. also, when i sneezed, i was greeted with "bless you" as a convenient substitution for "God bless you", and the phrase is often fast pronounced as [blesh'ya].