There are many superstitions associated with cats.





This is partly because the cat has lived alongside humans for many millennia.





















The cat was worshipped in Egypt and to kill one was considered a capital crime. When an Egyptian family's cat died, the cat was mummified and the family went into mourning. Romans, also, considered the cat sacred and introduced it into Europe.



By the 17th Century, however, the cat began to be associated with witchcraft and it's luck turned from good to bad in many areas.

A practice that became popular for a time was to burn cats and other animals on Shrove Tuesday (before the start of Lent),

in order to protect one's home from fire and other calamities.





Superstitions centering around the black cat are some of the most well known and popular superstitions today. It is interesting, though, because the good or bad luck they possess is dependent on where you live in the world. In Britain and Japan, having a black cat cross your path, is considered good luck, whereas, if you live in the USA or several European countries, it is bad luck to have a black cat walk by.

















Good luck associated with black cats include:



• Possessing a black cat.



• Having a black cat greet you at a door.



• Having a black cat enter your home.



• Meeting three black cats in succession.



• Touching a black cat.







Bad luck associated with black cats include:



• Meeting a black cat early in the morning.



• Having a black cat turn its back on you.



• Scaring or driving away a black cat from your property.



• Walking under a ladder after a black cat has walked underneath it.









This implies the existence of a malevolent being, manifested in cats, whose reason for existence is to deny people fortune. But that is ridiculous. The idea that black cats cause bad luck is false.

































Cats do not affect the luck of anyone

whose path has been crossed.











Superstition , a belief or practice generally regarded as irrational and as resulting from ignorance or from fear of the unknown.



It implies a belief in unseen and unknown forces that can be influenced by objects and rituals. Magic or sorcery, witchcraft, and the occult

in general are often referred to as superstitions.



Examples of common superstitions include the belief that bad luck will strike the person in front of whom a black cat passes or that some tragedy will befall a person who walks under a ladder.



Good luck charms, such as horseshoes, rabbits’ feet, coins, lockets, and religious medals, are commonly kept or worn to ward off evil or to

bring good fortune.



In general, superstitious practices and beliefs are most common in situations involving a high degree of risk, chance, and uncertainty,

and during times of personal or social stress or crisis, when events seem to be beyond human control.



The question of what is or is not superstitious, however, is relative.

One person’s beliefs can be another’s superstitions.



All religious beliefs and practices may be considered superstition by unbelievers, while religious leaders often condemn unorthodox popular practices as a superstitious parody of true faith.