yawning and crossing

[Annoula]

from when i was a little child i would notice religious people crossing their mouths when they yawned.

i came to think that yawning may be some kind of negative energy.

do you know anything about this??

 

[moses916]

in the 7th century, Pope Gregory I believe introduced the "God bless you" when you sneeze and the crossing when yawning... first of all, yawning occurs when you don't have enough oxygen in your body, so you make the sign of the cross when yawning as a protection

 

[Emmanuel-A]

i came to think that yawning may be some kind of negative energy.

I hope not. I yawn so often. I did not know i had to cross my mouth for that .

 

[Annoula]

I hope not. I yawn so often. I did not know i had to cross my mouth for that .

well i don't think it's a must.
but there are people that do it.

when you say a prayer for someone that has the "bad-eye" (if i say it right) you may start yawning yourself.
i remember i had the "bad-eye" and a relative said a prayer and he started yawning so much, he was having tears. oh my dear!

i also observe that sometimes when i make negative thoughts (let's say sinful thoughts) i yawn.

the thing is i yawn so much!!!!!!!

i know that yawning is said to be lack of oxygen but then maybe negative energy can cause lack of oxygen... who knows???
and oxygen is life for us...

wow....

 

[Dust and Ashes]

I yawn often when I pray but it's because of the way I breath when praying. I don't like the interruption of taking a deep breath but I guess I need to work on breathing correctly to stop the interruption of a yawn.

 

[choirfiend]

The "evil-eye" is part of folk-superstition in Greece. It's discouraged as belief here. The only thing I know about crossing one's mouth when yawning is because it is an action of tiredness, and you ask God to bless everything, and especially when you're tired so that you can keep going.

 

[Annoula]

The "evil-eye" is part of folk-superstition in Greece. It's discouraged as belief here. The only thing I know about crossing one's mouth when yawning is because it is an action of tiredness, and you ask God to bless everything, and especially when you're tired so that you can keep going.

hm... i don't know if it's just superstition... during the "euxaileon" there are prayers for "vaskania" = evil eye.
the Church here believes it as true, but i don't know how other Orthodox see it...

 

[choirfiend]

Yes, it's solely a Greek custom, and a small t tradition that the rest of the Church doesn't view in a very favorable light, from what I understand. There will be such things everywhere, I suppose.

 

[Tsarina]

in the 7th century, Pope Gregory I believe introduced the "God bless you" when you sneeze and the crossing when yawning... first of all, yawning occurs when you don't have enough oxygen in your body, so you make the sign of the cross when yawning as a protection

Aw, lol.. interesting fact.

True, yawning does occur when you dont have enough O2 in your body. I notice it occuring in my Church when the heaters are accidently on blast and it starts to get really warm and stuffy inside.