Title: Sneezing

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Greek Superstition (Good luck)
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Greece
• Informant: Katherine Spanos
• Date Collected: November 2, 2018

Informant Data:

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: In Ancient Greece, sneezes were believed to be prophetic signs from the gods. In 401 BC, for instance, the Athenian general Xenophon gave a speech exhorting his fellow soldiers to fight against the Persians. Greeks believed sneezing was sign of the Gods revealing the hidden future. A sneeze was associated with being a good omen or bad omen bringing good luck or misfortune.
• Social Context: According to an old superstition, sneezing is thought to mean that someone is talking or thinking about you. Many Greeks say “Bless you” after someone sneezed to wish them good fortune not bad.

Item:

• • Whenever someone sneezes the Greeks believe it is because someone is talking or thinking about you. To know who that person is, simply ask someone to give you a three-digit number; add each digit together and find the corresponding letter in the alphabet, and that’s the first initial of the person thinking about you.

   

Informant Comments:

• “My Yaya would always play around with me when I was younger and try to solve the puzzle of who was talking about me by going through lists of all the people I know who’s name started with that letter.”

Collector:

• Madeline Donahue