my chelsea protests!!!! why the black cat???

[melanie2]

i love black cats..they are my absolute favorite type of cat...they arch their back in a halloweeny fashion..their eyes glow in the dark...their hair stands on end and their tale bushes...they jump at you on all fours with every body part arched, including their face...so i ask you....my chelsea..who i adore...she wants to know...why the black cat for Halloween? my screensaver is a 3d of a haunted house..complete with a black cat that ambles up the walk...sits and looks around non chalantly..then proceeds on down the path, taking her/his sweet time..her/his/their eyes glowing..

my last two cats have all been black...stevie and now chelsea...i see no horror in her..no superstition at all..in fact she is soo damn loveable...and rotten also..

when did black cats become associated with Halloween?

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

My guess is that it is a old tradition from the Middle Ages. Cats were blamed to be the harbinger of disease, familiars of wayward witches and were given various other malevolent attributes. This is more than likely because of the eyeshine of the cats at night. With black being the color of evil it is natural that black cats were singled out as the real bad cats. (It was probably the wholesale killing of these cats in Europe which extended the periods of bubonic plague. There were no cats to eat the rats which carried the fleas.)

Finally with Halloween having a healthy celtic, rustic folklore the black cat having all that baggage makes him a stereotypical Halloween icon.

I have a black cat named Will. He's my little buddy.

 

[kopfhorer1]

Aww...lovely kitty! (melting into a puddle of protoplasm).

 

[scavenger]

One of my cats is black as well (her name is Whoopi). 🙂

I suppose the bad reputation of black cats is the result of anti-pagan propaganda by the Church in the Middle Ages. After all, black cats were seen as (semi) magical beings in pre-christean religion. So subsequently the Church made them into images of evil to kill off the old traditions.
The same goes for the pagan god Pan/Cernunnos, whose goat-like features were transferred those of the Devil.
Same again goes for the number 13, which in ancient folklore was the number of Change (the passing of the Old/the coming of the New) instead of what is now the number of Bad Luck.

 

[Duke Diablo]

Same again goes for the number 13, which in ancient folklore was the number of Change (the passing of the Old/the coming of the New) instead of what is now the number of Bad Luck.

Though some say that the number 13 is considered unlucky because of the friday 13th, the day when King Philip vanquished the Templar Knights. About the others, you are very correct. In medieval scripts, ancient Roman and Greek gods, as well as their mythical creatures, were called demons and devils.

As for the black cats: black is kinda representative of evil in christian mythology. Cats were usually associated with witches, so black + cat prolly equals evil.

 

[tff69]

I had a black cat, his name is Beezer. He now lives in NY, he was given to a woman who lost her family in 9/11

 

[melanie2]

eeks i wrote this thread while extremely tired and uh a wee bit under the influence...i'm glad i made sense lol....and awesome...black cat lovers everywhere unite...besides being black, Chelsea is polydactyl...she has six claws on both front paws...

and she has never caused me any bad luck..

 

[Ticklishf/f1981]

Hey I'm a Black Cat!!!!! We are loveable just like other felines. We are just unique in our ways!! And I for one don't think we are bad. People just make us this way!!!!

 

[Duke Diablo]

I agree with everyone... black cats are great... especially with garlic.

 

[melanie2]

I agree with everyone... black cats are great... especially with garlic.

ok Mister...you are asking for it now...what i'm not sure but i'll think of something..and i'll get the sexy Catwoman to help so there..

 

[TicklishKitten]

oh trust me Izzy..kitty would relish the opportunity to put that boy in his place XD

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Hell, I always figured it was because you can't see the damned things as you trip over them in the dark and break your neck! 😛aw:

 

[melanie2]

Hell, I always figured it was because you can't see the damned things as you trip over them in the dark and break your neck! 😛aw:

lol..well sometimes i accidentally sort of kick chelsea if she comes up to me while i'm sitting at the desk and she begins to rub...and i don't see her...but it's never a hard kick..

ooo and during a thunderstorm or when it's really dark and i haven't yet turned on the lights...because of the carpet being burgundy, she blends right in...

today i turned around from the top of the stairs to see two eyes glowing at me from the bottom...her eyes are amber, but they were glowing green...

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

I stumble over the cats at the house...and they're not even black ones! I think they're trying to kill me. Maybe if I fed them more tuna? It's the equivelent of kitty-krack. `Cept not the soupy kind. They don't like it if you add too much mayo. 😉

 

[kopfhorer1]

One of my cats is black as well (her name is Whoopi). 🙂

I suppose the bad reputation of black cats is the result of anti-pagan propaganda by the Church in the Middle Ages. After all, black cats were seen as (semi) magical beings in pre-christean religion. So subsequently the Church made them into images of evil to kill off the old traditions.

That's been the story of the world, the Western world anyway hasn't it, conquer the people and kill off their traditions?

Back to black cats, someone at the university I attended once arrived at the school's bus stop holding a foundling black kitten. I named him Jimi, after Jimi Hendrix.

As for kitties and tuna, one book I've read said that it's more like crack than we think. The author said it can actually damage a cat's body chemistry.

 

[Frowg]

Why Black Cats???

I think it's because black cats, as a popular familiar, have always been associated with the occult. The occult is obviously associated with Halloween, and also with Friday the 13th, which I believe is the anniversary of the day the Nicean Council cannonized the Bible (also renouncing many scriptures at the same time) which caused riots, murders, etc, caused by many unhappy Christians who basically watched there religion as they knew it become a bastardization for the economic benefit of the Church.

 

[kopfhorer1]

... riots, murders, etc, caused by many unhappy Christians who basically watched there religion as they knew it become a bastardization for the economic benefit of the Church.

If there were such people alive today, Pat Robertson and other likeminded lowlifes would have to seriously watch their backs.

 

[scavenger]

By the way, here's a pic of little Whoopi 🙂

 

[melanie2]

ooo Scavenger...what a precious kittie...looks a bit like chelsea...chelsea has white on her tummy and some under her chin as well...

 

[scavenger]

ooo Scavenger...what a precious kittie...looks a bit like chelsea...chelsea has white on her tummy and some under her chin as well...

Hehe, yeah, she's a lovely cat... she's easily scared though, she doesn't let too many people -apart from me- near her. She's got this little bit of white fur on her throat and another triangular-shaped patch on her lower tummy. If you look at it from a distance it sometimes looks like she's wearing a thong... :laughing:

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Just so everyone is aware, it's National Black Cat Day! 😛aw:

Be sure and feed Chelsea some extra Tender Vittles...or else!

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

{The real reason people distrust black cats} 😉

 

[melanie2]

oo that face looks just like Chelsea..and she is constantly coming up to me and rubbing me..and she also loves to lick me..and damn that tickles lol..

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

oo that face looks just like Chelsea..and she is constantly coming up to me and rubbing me..and she also loves to lick me..and damn that tickles lol..

Does she ever play-attack your feet? There's a brain-damaged ball of fuzzy cuteness here that does that to me when I'm trying to watch TV or crash. She already has some fearsome claws, and it simultaneously hurts/tickles when she pulls that s**t. Bad kitteh.