The Highly Significant Sneeze.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 24, 15 December 1906, Page 37

The Highly Significant Sneeze.

Different nations have placed various interpretations upon the act of sternutation, and some have considered it an evil omen, while others have accepted it as favourable.

"Shall not love to me. As in a Latin song I learned at school, Sneeze out a full God-bless-you right and left?”

These lines of Tennyson’s emphasise the importance of the ancient and universal act of sneezing. As sneezers the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Hindus, and Persians have had not a little to say about the habit in their classics, at tribnting to it a variety of causes and effects. By the Arabs the creation of the universe is declared to have come about through a sneeze on the part of Allah. Both the Africans and North American Indians have regarded the sneeze as a potential! omen. However, to begin with ourselves, whether or not there may be found some old fashioned people in the United States who still sneeze “A full God-bless-you right and. left,” it. is a faet that many, .of 115 s, possess, relations near or distant in Europe who give vent to the pious exclamation after sneezing. This custom extends practically all over Europe, from Sweden to Spain, and for

its origin one must go back to early Christian if not pagan times. It would seem that in the days of Saint Gregory Italy was swept by an epidemic, possibly grippi-, the crisis of which was reached by a violent fit of sneezing. This was called the "death sneeze,” and Saint Gregory enjoined that if the sufferer survived it he should express his gratitude in the form of the benediction, "God bless you!” But long before this period the Romans hail come to regard sneezing during a pestilence as such a dire symptom that it was customary to offer a short prayer to one of the gods. Thus while the sneezer exclaimed, “Jupiter, help me!” those at hand responded “Absit omen! ” From this source, therefore, and the custom spread over Europe; so that we find the importance of a sneeze further illustrated by the saying, "Not to be sneezed at,” meaning something to be regarded seriously. In Greece, however, when a person sneezes, those in his company bow reverentially in recognition of the epidemic of sneezing which tradition has it once depopulated Athens. Turning in another direction, it would appear that the Persians and Hindus still regard the sneeze as the special manifestation of an evil spirit. In the Sadda, one of the saered books of the Persians, all people are enjoined to offer prayers when a person sneezes, because Satan, in his Hight that way, is hovering overhead and has half made up his mind to descend. In fact, it is supposed to be the draught made by his sinister wings which causes a person to sneeze. But with the Hindus, on the other hand, a sneeze is regarded rather as a matter for congratulation. With them it is a sign that an evil spirit is trying to escape from your throat. Hence, when a Hindu sneezes he exclaims, in high satisfaction. “Live!” to which his companions respond, “With you.” At the same time the thumb and middle finger are snapped vigorously to scare the evil spirit from the room, so as to prevent his jumping down some one else’s throat.

In China, where every act is governed by a minute and strict code of etiquette, a rule for polite sneezing is in force. If by sundry twitching* of your friend’s nostrils you observe that he is about to sneeze you clasp your hands and bow until the lit is over. Then you reverently express the hope that tire bones of his illustrious ancestors have not been rattled by the demon of the earth.

With the Japanese it is not considered good form to recognise a sneeze, unless the sneezer should Ire a fox. Then it is advisable to make propitiatory offerings at the nearest shrine of the fox god.

But in this connection the most remarkable point is the universal evil significance attached to a sneezing lit. In northern Africa when a potentate sneezed horns were blown and drums beaten to apprise those in the vicinity; so that faithful subjects might make vows and offerings for the safety of the chief. Again, when the Spaniards landed in America they were surprised to find their own superstitions reflected by the Indians when anyone sneezed. Thus, on one occasion the Chief of Floriila implored those about him to raise their hands and petition the sun to avert the evil conseouenees.

But as an exception there is at least one race or tribe of people who regard sneezing in another tight. With the Eskimo it would seem to be their chief expression of hilarity, and “Have a sneeze with me” to be the equivalent to whatever form of passing hospitality other people may offer. In order to produce a line bone-shaking sneeze, the Eskimo mix powdered quartz with ground tobacco, and the result is a nasal explosion that would wreck any •..iher than an Eskimo head. It is said to Ire their one form of dissipation, and they will travel two years along an iee girt coast to procure the tobacco for its in-

dulgence. To the majority of us, however, who are unlike the Eskimo in this respect, it may be opportune to know that the only way to prevent a sneeze is to press a linger tightly upon the upper lip.—Michael White, in the ’“Sunday Magazine.”