Today is the Cat’s Day. For this reason, we analyze the presence of felines throughout the History of Humanity. From hexes to deities, cats have become a constant figure in different cultures.
Cats Small, large, thin or fat, orange, greenish, gray, black, with or without hair. Cats have been very close to humans forever. Their autonomy and delicacy, as well as their great abilities, have led them throughout history to be figures of admiration or rejection, depending on the culture in which they are found.
The figure of the kittens has always been stigmatized and related by bad luck and sorcery. This is due to its presence and great nocturnal activity as well as its color. The belief establishes a relationship between the presence of a black cat and bad luck for 7 years. However, for Egyptian culture, for example, this is not similar at all.
In ancient Egypt, the cat figure has always been well regarded for its protective sense. Although in those years the aforementioned animal was not closely linked to the human being; that is, it was not entirely domesticated, it was always thanked for protecting crops from rodents or small pests or the population from other animals such as snakes.
Later, the priests began to idolize him when the goddess Bastet was shown on the head of a cat. The goddess symbolized fertility, beauty, light, heat, and solar energy, but also, due to her feline features, she represented mystery, night, and the moon. It is thanks to this apparition that law was interposed through the pharaoh to protect the felines. According to evidence, anyone who dares to kill a pussycat could be sentenced to death. It is said that a Roman dignitary who accidentally killed a cat in Alexandria in the 1st century BC. He was lynched by the population despite the Pharaoh’s request for calm, eager above all for Rome not to intervene in his territory.
Asia
Cats first came to China through constant exchanges between cloth merchants who traded with Europe. Seeing it, the Chinese warmly adopted the kitten’s thanks to their ability to hunt mice as well as their beauty. Thus it became a symbol of fortune and peace and they used to be companion animals especially for women.
In Japan, the story was not very different. The Japanese came to pamper felines so much for their charming beauty that they stopped hunting mice. Even the feline figure has always been so well regarded that it has been applied even in classic Japanese works of art. However, there are also legends that attract attention such as the vampire cat of Nabeshima who would have drunk the blood of an entire family in the locality. This was a very told story during the Edo era.
And you, do you like cats?
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