When our family went to the pumpkin patch this last weekend, we passed a black cat right away at the entrance. No joke! Does this mean our visit was instantly spelled with bad luck? Actually....
Most cultures view black cats as good luck!
- The Egyptians and Russians revered all cats as good luck.
- Most of England and Ireland also saw black cats as good luck.
- In parts of old England, giving a cat to a bride meant good luck (seriously?).
- In Scotland, if a black cat arrived on your door, it meant you might win a jackpot (come here, kitty kitty....)
- In Germany, you have to pay attention. If the black cat crosses from right to left, that's bad. But left to right is good!
- In Japan, owning a black cat was a good thing for single women, as it was thought of as attracting suitors.
Sometime in the Middle Ages, Europeans began to associate black cats with witchcraft. This could have been due to the elderly woman who would feed cats being among those often accused of as witches.
We own a cat. It's not black, but it doesn't have to be - sometimes just the look it lets me know it's up to no good.....
Bonus Fact: The gene mutation that makes a cat black also makes it immune to more diseases. There's a thought that the same mutation in human affects the same genethat can offer HIV resistance.
