God Bless You

I let my brother and his friend borrow my camera because they wanted to make a movie. they consist of mostly running and screaming. the footage is bouncy and you get a lot of shots of feet and dirt. I guess boys will be boys. dirty and noisy

did you ever wonder why people say "God bless you! " when you sneeze? this is a question my brother asked me this morning at the breakfast table. It started in Rome during the reign of Pope Gregory the Great. It was thought that if you sneezed, your soul left your body and left a spot where evil spirits could enter. and the only way to get it the soul back in would be if someone quickly "Blessed you." It was this and also that Roman citizens feared sneezing was a sign that a plague was about to hit their city because they thought that sneezing was a sure sign of sickness. Pope Gregory started the use of the phrase "God bless you" to shield sneezers from any ill effects. Both from the plague and the evil spirits entering the body. I think that's as silly as people in the 17th century not taking a bath because it would make them more volerable to sickness! Where do people come up with this stuff?!?!?

And by the way, "gesundheit"(being just as popular as "Bless you") is a German word that literally means "health." the roots for 'gesundheit' are similar to that of "Bless You".

I'm not sure why I'm talking about this...