SNEEZING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4444, 17 June 1875, Page 3

SNEEZING.

In Temple Bar there is a curious little paper on sneezing which will repay perusal. It is rather disjointed and inartistic in construction, but the writer has been industrious in collecting his facts, and has brought together some interesting information. Here is a passage which shows the effect a sneeze had (and may still have, for aught wo know) in the Vatican:— “A friend of mine has told me that his father, as a little boy, was presented to the Pope, and was promised, on his next visit, two days subsequently, a medal blessed by his Holiness. He and his father were present when the cardinals were assembled together. He happened to sneeze, when, to his surprise and delight, their Eminences rose and bowed to him. The result was so agreeable that he extemporised several sneezes which were similarly honored. His father was so mortified at the practical joke that ho refused to present his son again to the Pope, and the little fellow therefore ; paid dearly for his amusement, and lost the intended present from his Holiness.” Two fairy stories are contained in the following : “ This being, then, so wide-spread a super-

stition, regarding the influence of fairies or subordinate deities, can we in any way obtain from it a clue to the habit of saying ‘ God bless you ! ’ to a person who sneezes ? Does the invocation of the Deity protect the person who sneezes from the influence of the fairies !

“ This I believe can be conclusively established by the traditions and superstitions of the Celtic race.

“ I need hardly refer to the mysterious protection which the. name of. the Deity is supposed to afford against the agency of evil spirits. There is, however, a well known story, which will illustrate the belief of the Celtic race as to the effect which the habit of saying ‘ God bless you !’ has upon the fairies. “ Pat once went to sleep at a place frequented by the fairies, and in his sleep was carried down to their palace. He was about to drink some of their ale, which' would have for ever prevented his return, when fortunately one of the fairies happened to sneeze, upon which Pat, in a courteous mood, exclaimed very innocently, ‘ God bless your honor !’ Wonderful was the effect of thus invoking the name of the Deity in their presence. With terrible imprecations, and in great dismay, the fairies fled away, and Pat once more woke upon earth.

“I could cite many such stories to prove the fact that the Celtic race believe that, from Satan down to the mildest form of evil spirits, the name of the Deity has the effect of rendering them, for the time, powerless to do harm.

“ Can we then find any clue to the question why we should wish to keep off fairies and evil spirits when a man sneezes ? I have discovered the explanation in the superstitions of the Highlanders. The following tradition as to a Highland chief’s family im Perthshire, related to me by the Eev. Dr. Eobertson, a native of that country, shows that when a person sneezes, he is supposed to be liable to be stolen by the fairies, unless protected by some one invoking the name of the Deity. “ Several centuries age, an ancestor of the present chief was engaged to be married to a young lady in France, who, he learned, had grown fickle, and was about to be married to a rival. In great distress, the chief applied for aid to the King of the Fairies, who offered him a fairy horse, mounted on which he accompanied his Majesty to Franco. When they arrived at the house of the bride, the wedding was just commencing. The King of the Fairies, unseen by the guests, entered, and seeing the bride for a moment withdraw into a room alone, he followed her. Just then she sneezed—there was no one present to say ‘ God bless you !’ and in a moment the fairy had stolen the bride, whom he carried in triumph over to the Highlands, where she married the chieftain, and became the happy mother of a long line of illustrious Macs. It is needless to add that his rival, the unhappy Frenchman, unconsciously married ‘ a fairy woman.’ ”