World Superstitions About Black Cats

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     Everyone has heard some of the superstitions and tales about infamous black cats. Right?… The facts indicate that some people fear them…some people are in awe of them and some people hate Black Cats. Why? Because they have been associated with witches, evil, the Devil and black magic! Over 100’s of centuries the Black Cat has been a symbol and omen representing the mysterious world of the supernatural.

 Well here are a few weird and perhaps unusual facts and myths about one of Halloween’s favorite characters…..The Black Cat.

1. In some Asian regions the people believe The Black Cat is sign of prosperity and good fortune.

2. The British believe that homes with Black Cats and young women..the cat is an omen that will bring the young girls many suitors.

3. Some people believe if you dream about a black cat at Christmas season, it means a serious illness will befall you. You can end the curse of an illness, due to the dream, by choppping the tail off a blck cat and burying it by the front door. HMMMMMMMMM….rather drastic remedy.

4. The Scotish folks believe Black Cats are an omen that signals good fortune will soon cross paths with the owner or home that a Black Cat chosses to be with.

5. The movie – The Black Cat, was released in 1941 and starred Alan Ladd, Broderick Crawford and Basil Rathbone.

6. Italians believe if you see or hear a Black Cat sneeze it is a good luck omen; but many  Italians have  the superstition that if a Black Cat lays on a sick persons bed, death will follow.

7. Many people around the world believe witches can shapeshift into Black Cats.

8. Many people around the world share the belief that if there is a single white hair on a Black cat if you can pull it out, without getting scratched, your will have a long, happy and prosperous marriage

9. A Black Cat Tale : A story tells of a farmer who, at midnight, cut off the ear of a black cat he thought was bewitching his cattle. When day came and sun poked out, he returned to his cattle field and found not the cat’s bloody ear, but the ear of a woman, with a gold ear ring pierced through it.

10. You can find in the south of France people calling Black Cats “matagot”… meaning “magical cats”, for it is said if you feed them well and treat them with honor, you will be blessed.

11. Many believe if a Black Cat crosses your path, you better go back to bed for the day, because bad luck will follow you all day, from the encounter.

12. The original – original Black Cat “true black cat is the Bombay cat, which is an Asian cat and is completely black”.

13. It has been said, if you stroke the tail of a black cat it will cure a sty in the eye.

14. Black cats became a Halloween symbol, because it was believed spirits could return in the body of an animal, especially the mysterious black cats that lurked around garveyards at night. [Looking for mice usually, but as folklore goes, being the 'victim' of lost souls].

One of the historical reasons Black Cats may have been ascribed as evil and taken on a superstitious bent with many cultures in the Western World concerns one of Catholic Popes :

 Pope Gregory IX denounced black cats as Satanic in his 1233 Papal Bull ‘Vox in Rama’. This lbegan the
extermination of many cats across Europe, where thousandsof cats were burned alive in the cause of “searching out the devil”.