National Black Cat Appreciation Day 🐈‍⬛

Nothing is quite as elegant as a black cat, especially my beautiful Isabella. However, black cats and kittens are often overlooked by people looking to adopt a cat and can be at animal shelter much longer than they should be. So why is this?

Interestingly, cats in ancient Egypt were highly revered, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice. Cats of royalty were known to be dressed in golden jewelry and were allowed to eat right off their owners’ plates. The goddess of warfare was a woman with the head of a cat named Bastet.

These days, however, black cats are often seen as unlucky or mischievous, but not everyone knows why that is. In Celtic mythology, it was believed that fairies could take the form of black cats, and therefore their arrival to a home or village was seen as sign of good luck. 

Unfortunately, the Pilgrims that came after them were devoutly religious and fearful of anything remotely related to the pagan beliefs of their ancestors, and it was because of this fear that black cats went from being seen as the vessels of fairies to the vessels of witches and demons. At that time it became common practice to severely punish those who kept black cats as pets, and even kill the animals themselves.

Although these days nobody really believes black cats are witches or demons in disguise anymore, they are still often seen as signs of bad luck by many people in the West. 

You can celebrate National Black Cat Appreciation Day in several ways. If you are looking to adopt a cat or kitten, consider adopting a beautiful black cat or kitten. If you are allergic to cats, make a donation to a local shelter to help them feed their cats, especially those beautiful black cats that people neglect to adopt. Of course, I’ll be taking a third opinion: I will be showing some extra love to my beautiful Isabella.