Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/history-of-black-cats/
The place where I’m currently living doesn’t allow pets which is a total shame because I would love to have a little black cat. I love black cats and always have.
Unfortunately, black cats often have a stigma attached to them. They’re often seen as symbols of bad luck. But where did that start? Well, Jackson Galaxy shared some insight into the long history of black cats.
As he explained in the video, “It’s true – black cats have been truly vilified throughout our history, from mythology to being burned at the stake as witches to… well every superstition you can think of.”
And he went on to share how their association with witchcraft got so bad at one point, that Pope Gregory IV tried to then get rid of all cats throughout Europe.
Galaxy shared, “I gotta say if you gotta blame the demonization the official demonization of cats and especially black cats in the world starting in Europe it would be Pope Gregory IX. Thanks Pope Gregory IX, because in 1233 …he basically called out witches as worshiping a devil that was this shadowy half-man half-cat, I mean, that basically made cats ‘cattis non-gratis,’ especially in Europe.”
But, Pope Gregory IX’s actions did have consequences. As Taylor Swift might say, “Karma is a cat purring in my lap.” With so many of the cats being unjustly destroyed, the rat population was free to blossom. With those rats came the bubonic plague with decimated Europe, since there were no cats to kill the rats.
As Galaxy further said, “By the 1300s it’s theorized anyway, that cat numbers were depleted so badly … that allowed the Bubonic Plague to just flourish. …The the more this went on the worse the rap was that black cats had on them.”
Unfortunately, no one seemed to put two and two together that cats were actually a good thing to have around. Instead, the demonization of cats continued, and it just got worse when the Salem Witch Trials came around. That was a very dark time in history for black cats.
Galaxy stated, “There is worshiping and there is vilifying and burning at the stake and all stops in between and that’s what the black cat has represented through time. …The Halloween cat and how badly misinterpreted that body position is. It is a surviving damning vision of the black cat especially when we associate during Halloween a witch and a black cat …These are vestiges of discrimination and wholesale slaughter of an innocent animal.”
Thankfully, we know better today. Black cats are wonderful animals, just like other cats. Sadly, black cats are often the ones that have the hardest time getting adopted.
As Galaxy mentioned, “We gotta spread the word you guys, black cats are good luck, black cats are righteous … spread the word adopt a black cat today. Foster a black cat today.”
Watch the video down below:
[embedded content]
Do you have a black cat? Let us know!
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
