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 驱逐,排出tZp星辉外国语学校
　　Maori 居住于新西兰的毛利人tZp星辉外国语学校
　　Tiki 波利尼西亚神话中的人类的始祖,创造第一个人的神tZp星辉外国语学校
　　Zulu 居住于非洲南部的祖鲁人tZp星辉外国语学校
　　Hebrew 希伯来人tZp星辉外国语学校
　　Identify 认为同一,视为相等