People tend to cover their mouths when they yawn because they think it is "good manners". However, the origin of keeping your mouth covered when you yawn wasn't about being polite at all- it was to prevent you from DYING!
Ancient people believed that if you would yawn without covering your mouth, your soul would slip out and you would die. Yawns are conagious as well...so they were considered a type of plague. If someone would yawn without covering their mouth, the person would apologize- not for being rude, but as to say "I'm sorry I nearly killed you!"
Infant mortality rates were exteremely high in anceint times, and Roman physicians correctly observed (but incorrectly diagnosed) that newborn babies would yawn when coming out of the womb- and many of them would die shortly afterward. Therefore, it was standard practice to cover the baby's mouth during this first initial breath. Modern medicine now knows that this baby yawn is a natural reflex to try to replace fluid in the breathing tubes with air.
I'm sure I made many of you yawn while reading this- sorry I tried to kill you.
Ancient people believed that if you would yawn without covering your mouth, your soul would slip out and you would die. Yawns are conagious as well...so they were considered a type of plague. If someone would yawn without covering their mouth, the person would apologize- not for being rude, but as to say "I'm sorry I nearly killed you!"
Infant mortality rates were exteremely high in anceint times, and Roman physicians correctly observed (but incorrectly diagnosed) that newborn babies would yawn when coming out of the womb- and many of them would die shortly afterward. Therefore, it was standard practice to cover the baby's mouth during this first initial breath. Modern medicine now knows that this baby yawn is a natural reflex to try to replace fluid in the breathing tubes with air.
I'm sure I made many of you yawn while reading this- sorry I tried to kill you.