Black Cat carries bad luck?
By iola2012
@iola2012 (172)
Philippines
July 29, 2012 4:59am CST
I was reminiscing the beliefs of my grandparents, they said that if a black cat is on your way, there will be a bad luck for you. Agree? It is also bad luck if the black cat walks under the ladder. This is more interesting, some elders believed that killing a black cat and buried them. Before the sunrise, they need to unburied the black cat and extracted the eyes, these eyes possessed a mystical power as used by some black witches to be immortal and cast spell to their victims. Have you heard anything like this?
4 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
29 Jul 12
Black cats are either considered unlucky or lucky, depending on where you come from. In England and in Celtic traditions (Ireland and Scotland), a black cat is usually considered lucky, though it sometimes depends on how you encounter it. Some people say that it is lucky if a black cat crosses your path while others believe it to be only lucky if the cat is going the same way as you.
Black cats were generally thought to be the companions of witches and, because witchcraft was considered evil, black cats were thought to be too. In most European countries, black cats are considered unlucky.
It seems to me that traditions concerning black cats all stem from a belief that they were unusual beings with supernatural powers. Whether they are considered lucky or unlucky depends on whether people hated and feared them as evil or whether they felt a healthy respect for the supernatural as being something which can bring either good luck or bad luck, depending on whether one treated them well or badly.
That it is unlucky if you see a black cat walking under a ladder seems to me a mixture of two superstitions: that of walking under a ladder oneself and that of seeing or being crossed by a black cat. Both are often considered unlucky, so if one sees a black cat walk under a ladder, it could mean a double dose of bad luck!
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
29 Jul 12
There's an interesting article here: http://cats.about.com/od/catloreurbanlegends/a/blackcatlore.htm which gives examples of some of the confusion and differences between the various superstitions.
I have never heard of the practice of burying a black cat and digging it up before sunrise in order to use the eyes as charms. There was an old tradition in England (I don't know about elsewhere) that walling up or burying a cat (not necessarily a black one) in a new building would bring good luck to the building and protect it from mice and rats. There is evidence that sometimes the cat was alive when this was done, though some of the cat remains that have been found when dismantling old buildings are probably those of animals who had crept into small spaces and were unable to get out.
@amalniro1 (3)
•
29 Jul 12
i don't think so. because we have a black cat. it 'is cute.we are living happy .don't think like this. everything is good. our mind is the main thing.
@ForSouls1234 (720)
• United States
30 Jul 12
Well I have FOUR black cat's and they have been nothing but given me joy and happiness in my life.
Who hasn't heard this? This is a very old time superstition. Anyone that believes it is usually OLD, ha ha.
I'm not into superstition or dentures yet ha ha. And tonight when I'm brushing my TEETH I'll be petting my beautiful BLACK cat as she likes to sit by me on the sink usually and watch.
And oh my God she might cross my path on the way to the bedroom in the hallway! I better watch it. I'm laughing SO hard right now its nuts.
@williamjisir (22819)
• China
1 Sep 12
I have never heard of such a myth in the place where I live. Just in our big school, especially in the building where I live, we have quite a few wild cats. They are seen everywhere around our building, under the bushes, sitting on the trash cans for food and for a rest, under our stairs, and sitting on the seats of our scooters and they even urinate on our scooters. As we don't have this myth, those cats of different colors are usual as other animals. Thanks for the discussion. Take care, iola.
@jaiho2009 (39141)
• Philippines
29 Jul 12
I don't believe in superstitious beliefs.
The word superstitious alone defines the meaning.
In some country, black cat is considered as bad luck while there are other places that consider black cat as good luck- therefore it's hard to believe which is which.
