National Black Cat Day | October 27 | National Days
For National Black Cat Day – The Curious Little Black Cat
One little black cat named Zoey doesn't know, or more likely she doesn’t care, that she’s supposed to be striking fear into the hearts of all whose paths she crosses…
Her name is Zoey and she’s more curious than scary, but more about her in a minute.
Writing about Zoey got me wondering where the superstition that black cats bring bad luck came from.
Where did the superstition about black cats originate?
According to History.com:
Pheobe Miller, an artist and folklore scholar, explains that the notion that black cats bring us bad luck simply by crossing our path originated in medieval Europe.
The idea that a black cat is on a witch’s errand was at the source of the belief, but another popular notion was that the devil himself was delivering a bad omen, disguised as a black cat.
But not everyone was on board with such superstitions surrounding black cats.
In some cultures, popular belief about the black cat is quite the opposite — that black cats are a symbol of good fortune. Their status as revered creatures in ancient Egypt, for example, is due to their resemblance to the cat goddess Bastet.
In Scotland and Japan, black cats symbolize prosperity.
So, when we come across a black cat, whether we see it as a representative of the supernatural, or a purely benevolent creature, depends upon which lore we are most likely to embrace.
Personally, I embrace the cat rather than the lore.
About Zoey, the curious little black cat
The one thing about Zoey that does scare me is the next time she sneaks out the door and the hours I’ll spend searching for her.
A lot of cats, our other cat Buddy, for example, would do fine and return home for dinner, but when Zoey’s curiosity lures her out we fear she wouldn’t make it.
You might be thinking, how is that possible? Cats are resourceful, clever creatures who domesticated themselves eons ago and have been existing in mutually beneficial relationships with humans ever since.
Surely she’d do at least as well as her ancestors?
We think Zoey’s ancestors are the reason cats domesticated themselves.
Her antics have kept us on our toes for more than a decade but even so, we’ll miss her terribly when the day comes, which I don’t want to think about.
These are a couple of stories about our curious cat:
