Are Black Cats Really Bad Luck?
Just when you thought that having cat insurance incase your cat got sick was enough to worry about, now you might have to worry about black cats? To the superstitious person, having a black cat cross your path is very bad luck. However, it is only Europe and U.S. In Japan it is considered good luck for a black cat to cross your path.
Black cats are commonly looked at as bad luck because of their association with witches. Black cats were thought to be shape shifters and that witches that could change into them and then lurk around, doing evil things, without being noticed. Having said that they were also easily identified by their ugly apperence and severe need for cosmetic surgery to hide their hidiousness. I find it funny that they burned and persecuted the ugly people - has that much really changed? Anyway I digress. In the Middle Ages it was believed that the devil took the form of a black cat and on holidays such as Easter, black cats were rounded up and burned.
Other stories say that black cats are bad luck because of the Islamic story of Mohammad’s black cat, Muezza. Mohammad liked cats in general and Muezza was said to be his favorite. He liked this cat so much that it is said if Muezza was sleeping on Mohammad’s coat, Mohammad would cut around the cat, as not to wake him. Crusaders brought stories like this back from war, which led Western Europe to dislike black cats.
In Ireland, a black cat crossing someone’s path in the moonlight is taken by some as an omen of an epidemic illness. In Italy it was believed that if a black cat lay on the bed of a sick person, that person would die.
However, there are several cultures that believe black cats to be good luck. In Egypt cats were worshiped and to kill one was a crime punishable by death. When an Egyptian’s cat died, it was mummified and the family went into mourning. Some were even buried with their cats.
In Scotland, an unfamiliar black cat on the porch of a house is regarded as a sign of upcoming prosperity for its inhabitants. Many years ago in England, fishermen’s wives kept black cats in their homes while their husbands went away to sea in their fishing boats. They believed that the black cats would prevent danger from occurring to their husbands while they were away.
So, are black cats really bad luck? It depends on where you live and how superstitious you are. If a black cat does cross your path, try speaking to it in Japanese and maybe some good luck will rub off.
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