Sunday, July 26, 2015

Black Cats : Symbol of Good Luck or Bad Luck ?



I love cats especially black cats. Even though I scared to hold them but I think they are adorable just like the other cats, until i come across this superstition which is believed by many people world wide; in which the black cats brings bad luck to someone, if one crosses their way. I do not know if this is true, whether it really brings bad luck to someone. Lets just relate this superstition to some other basic facts and stories.

The ancient Egyptians worshiped many animals during their reign. The Egyptians believe that the cats are the most magical creature compared to other animals. They believe that cats bring good luck to the people who own them and treat them nicely. To honor the pet cat, wealthy Egyptian family dresses them in jewels and feed them with luxurious food. When their pet cat dies, the cat will be mummified. As a sign of mourning, the cat owners will shave off their eyebrows and mourn until their eyebrows grow back. Cats were so special until those who kill or harm them even by accident will be sentenced to death. Why do the cats get special treatments? Well, according to the Egyptians mythology, gods and goddesses had the power to transform themselves into a different animals. There is one deity named Bastet, had the power to transform into a cat.Somehow, based on Egyptian belief cats has been giving them good luck and cats were one of their blessed deity.


Black cats are also related to the witchcraft. Historically the western cultures viewed black cats as evil omen as they are related to the witches. The people in western viewed the black cat as demonic entity and anyone caught having one will be severely punished. If the owner of the black cat is a female, she will be assumed as witch and put to death. Once a devastating plague epidemic called as Black Death began to ravage Europe in 14th century, it terrified many innocent people and they believed that this disease was caused by the wrath of God. Thus, they sought to solve this plague by burning women who own black cats and accused of witchcraft. This made the situation worse as it rose the rat population. The epidemic killed more than 200 million people. 



Another story relates to the good luck of a black cat. King Charles 1 whom believed that black cats are lucky for him and guarded his cat carefully stopping anything bad happening to it. When the cat died, he realized that his good luck ended. Based on a legend, the next day, he was arrested and charged with high treason leading to public execution and temporary abolition of the monarchy. Even pirates had black cats in 18 century and they have their own belief on black cats' luck. They believed black cats walking towards an individual would bring bad luck and when the cat walk away it would bring good luck for them. If the black cat walk on to a ship and off down again means the ship will doomed to sink. It is quite freaky to read the fact that a black cat could doom a ship to sink, did Titanic faced that too? 

Black cats are also associated with bloody Halloween, as they are sacrificed by group of satanic members. They engage in mutilation, torture and brutal killing of black cats. Depending on trusted sources found online, the alleged practice of sacrificing the black cats began with the 'Druid priests' and 'Pagans'. More than 2000 years ago, the Druid priests' nurtured the belief that evil spirits were responsible for bringing bad weathers. To placate the spirits, the priests organized a festival honoring the lord of dead, Samhain. The priests ordered the people to extinguish the fires and gather around the bonfire. The fire is intended to frighten away the evil spirits. To discourage mysterious entities from acts of retribution, sacrifices were thrown into the bonfire. Sacrifices mostly are domestic animals, popular sacrifices are the horses as they are believed to be sacred to the Sun God. Black cats are also favorite sacrifice because they were assumed to be evil spirits which transformed themselves into animals.

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