Cats are animals that have experienced a tremendous boom in terms of entering homes as pets, more and more people decide on this friendly feline that little by little is gaining our trust through based on being an animal that needs little care and in return they provide us with moments of great fun and even fascination.
However, things change on the street, especially with black cats, which suffer the historical stigma of being considered a symbol or omen that is accompanied by bad luck if we come across them. It's been so long since the origin of this popular belief that in AnimalWised we are going to try to shed some light on the cause associated with this belief of why black cats are associated with bad luckand also so that you understand that it is only a myth.
Origins of the myth of bad luck caused by black cats
You need to go back a long way to find the first town that began to add fuel to the fire to ignite the myth. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Celts were the first to associate cats of this color with witches, as they claimed that they were captivated by their brilliant and excellent night black fur as well as how much his eyes stood out from other things.
It is also rooted in French culture with roots in the Breton lands, including the legend of the enormous Chat PalugThis one tells about a huge black cat that spent the nights terrorizing cattle and peasants every time it appeared, until King Arthur managed to hunt it down and end its life.
Also in the periods in which the black plague suffered a special boom, the black cat was blamed, indiscriminately chasing all the felines. What was shown was a mistake because the cats managed to reduce the population of rats, the true culprits of the transmission of this terminal disease.
Witchcraft in the Middle Ages the worst period for black cats
Despite previous beliefs, it was not until the Middle Ages that black cats suffered the worst possible persecution. The witch hunt was the excuse, they were considered demonic beings which had to be avoided at all costs. The mere fact of having one near your home could mean that you were tried for witchcraft. And in the extreme, black cats were burned in rituals in order to ward off black magic from a certain area.
The high point of the nonsense of this belief took place in Salem, between the years 1692 and 1693, when the danger of religious extremism became clear, leading to the official trial of women for alleged witchcraft. The fact is that any symbol historically associated with witchcraft had to be eradicated, enjoying black cats with such bad luck that their name had already been cursed many years ago.
It was even spread the belief that witches had the ability to transform into black cats to wander and seek their victims by the streets with complete freedom. Hence seeing a black cat was almost like seeing a witch.
One of the stories that were told to justify the persecution of black cats, spoke of two young people who crossed paths with one of these felines, decided to follow it and apparently they did not end up in a good way. In order to punish him, they began to throw stones at him and the cat, to take refuge, sneaked into the house of an old woman who was accused of being a witch. Showing up the next day the woman with scratches and bruises was the definitive proof that she had turned into a cat and therefore was a witch…
Other cultures have treated you better
Of course not in all places and in all cultures has it been treated in the same way. For example, the Scots have always considered that having a black cat at home would bring good luck to the family.
Also for Japanese culture as we have seen in the story of the lucky cat or Maneki Neko They are considered a shield against the bad luck.
The black cat nowadays
Fortunately, the belief that the black cat brings bad luck is much less widespread, many people enjoy the company of beautiful cats of this color at home.
However, many people still have this scourge, thanks to ignorance and prejudice transmitted in the form of sayings or popular sayings, they still consider seeing them to be an omen of bad luck. The worst thing is not that it affects a certain part of society, there each one with his madness, the bad thing is that it can have a negative impact on the well-being of these beautiful cats, something that is not tolerable in any case.
So if you have the opportunity and want to take in a stray cat, you will be sending a message of hope if its color is black. Why don't you change the fate of one of these felines yourself by adopting it?
