Why do some people believe that sneezing is bad luck?

Answer 1

This belief is probably associated with the 'Black Plague' or 'Black Death' which was a terrible epidemic that swept through Europe between 1348 and 1350.

The plague is estimated to have killed 30-60% of Europe's population.

The old nursery rhyme or folk song 'Ring a Ring o' Rosies' is about the plague, because of the lyrics. When you sung this as a child, you probably didn't realise that you were singing about plagues and death!

The most common variation today of the song is this:

Ring a ring o' rosies,

A pocket full of posies,

A-tish-oo! A-tish-oo!

We all fall down.

This song talks about a ring of roses, lying on someone's grave.

A pocket full of posies is like a little pot pourri bag that the women kept in their pockets or blouses to try and weaken the smell of death and plague everywhere that they went.

'A-tish-oo!' is the sound someone makes when they sneeze. Now a day when you sneeze everyone will say to you, "bless you". This saying also comes from the plague, because when someone sneezed it was seen as an early sign of the plague, and people would say, "God Bless You!"

Saying 'we all fall down' is a child's way of saying, 'we are all dead!'

Today some people believe that sneezing is bad luck, and this is probably because it was seen as bad luck back in the days of the plague as well.