WANTED: CAT

I’ve always wanted to have a cat. I used to have one but he died ages ago [God bless his soul. I miss him and he’ll always stay in my heart.] Anyway, the reason why I wanted to have a cat so bad is that cats are just so cute. They’re lovely and adorable especially when they play with you. This 30th, I’m going to get a Siamese cat from Ella. And I’m so excited about it.

Witchcraft and Superstition [source: wikipedia]

Historically, black cats were symbolically associated with witchcraft and evil. In Hebrew and Babylonian folklore, cats are compared to serpents, coiled on a hearth. The cat was worshipped in Egypt and to kill one was a crime punishable by death. When an Egyptian family’s cat died, the cat was mummified and the family went into mourning. Romans, also, considered the cat sacred and introduced the animal into Europe. In most European countries, except Britain and Ireland, a black cat crossing one’s path is considered bad luck; they were also seen by the church as associated with witches. Black cats (and sometimes, other animals of the same colour, or even white cats) were sometimes suspected of being the familiars of witches. Black cats were believed to be shape shifters, that witches could transform into them by saying a spell and travel about doing evil things unnoticed. According to sources witches took such good care of their cats for this reason and it was rumored that they even fed them the blood of babies to stay youthful and agile. As the cat was a form of its witch owner it was believed that by harming a cat you were directly harming its witch. Many also believed that the devil regularly took the form of a black cat. Because of this on holy days, such as Easter, during the Middle Ages black cats were routinely hunted down and burned. By the 17th Century the cat began to be associated with witchcraft and its luck turned from good to bad in many areas around the world. (more…)