So Much for Black Cats being Bad Luck!

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to look up some information about why black cats are connected so closely to witches and Halloween, bad luck and superstition.
Sprinkled in are pics of some black cats we at WIFCaP know and love!

Dating back to the ancient Egyptians , it was believed that black cats were sacred, so they worshipped them. An Egyptian goddess called Pasht was said to have had the body of a woman and the head of a cat. Since the Egyptians believed that Pasht had nine lives, they also believed that all cats did.
The Egyptians were so respectful of black cats that when one died, it was preserved as a mummy, just as Egyptians rulers were. Cemeteries have been found with mummified bodies of thousands of black cats, plus mummified mice to accompany them into the next world!

Our Beautiful Zeva - One of WIFCaP's first for "spa treatment"!

 Another tidbit found on the internet:

"If you believe that a black cat crossing your path is bad luck, you believe in witchcraft.
Legend has its that in the 1560s in England, a father and son threw stones at a cat that had startled them on a moonless night.
The wounded cat ran into the nearby home of a suspected witch.
The next day the old woman was seen in public limping and bruised, and a superstition was born which caused the burning alive of innocent women in the seventeenth century."

But there is actually more written in folk-lore about the GOOD LUCK black cats bring than bad...here are a few!

Black cat, cross my path
Good fortune bring to home and hearth
When I am away from home
Bring me luck wherever I roam

- Old English Charm 

* Freya, the Norse Goddess of Love & Fertility drives a chariot pulled by two black cats.

* To dream of a black cat is thought by many people to be a lucky omen.

* Many theater folk love cats, perhaps because they, too, were once ostracized and shunned. It is believed that a black cat in the audience on opening night portends a successful play.


* In the south of France, black cats are referred to as "matagots" or "magician cats." According to local superstition, they bring good luck to owners who feed them well and treat them with the respect they deserve.

* Fisherman's wives kept black cats while their husbands went away to sea believing that the black cats would prevent danger from occurring to their husbands. These black cats were treated like royalty and were considered so valuable that they were often stolen. At one point, they became so expense that few fisher folk could afford them.

Whenever the cat of the house is black,
The lasses of lovers will have no lack.

~ English Proverb

(the above from fullcirclenews.blogspot.com)

Also black cats and all cats are honored and held sacred in the county of Japan.  

AVCheryl with a black kitty we were able to find a home for!

It seems the bad luck superstition has overpowered the good luck and because of it, black cats are the last to be adopted and the first to euthanized in shelters.

Arya-found wandering and alone now belongs to Kathy's son!

What we know is that black cats  are lovely creatures and each that we have had a joy to know, has been more than purrfect!

Sherman found in a ditch outside a distribution center, has a new lease on life with Linda!

When a black kitty finds it way to AVC or WIFCaP we are thrilled.  We always know a piece of our heart will leave with them when they find their furever home!

Edwyn - found in Walnut and adopted  by our friend Autumn in Omaha!

We hope you will all have fun during this Halloween season, but please, if you own a black cat, keep it inside and safe.  And if you are looking to adopt a new cat/kitten...wont you please pick a black one??