This is a continuation of cat superstitions around the world. I am pleasantly surprised to discover only one cat superstition in Indonesia although they have many. It is labelled as “Pamali” according to a contributor to the Quora.com website. Pamali is also an Indonesian folklore horror game! And this helpful Indonesian woman lists many superstitions none of which concern the domestic or stray cat.
Some Indonesian superstitions do concern animals such as hearing a crow, which indicates that you will receive news about someone’s death, normally a family member. And if a bat flies onto your terrace it is bad black magic. And if a black butterfly flies into your house for a few days, some weeks later a guest will come to your home. But nothing about black cats – great. Refreshing. ^_^ 😸.
And very little about the domestic cats generally. This probably shouldn’t surprise us because around 90% of people in Indonesia are Muslims. Muslims should have a respectful attitude towards domestic cats because of the Prophet Muhammad’s love of cats which is well documented.
The Prophet’s love of cats is not always translated into great animal welfare concerning cats but it probably helps to improve cat welfare.
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One Indonesian website lists the only superstition I can find regarding cats. It is this: if you run over a cat in your vehicle, you bring bad luck to yourself. And it may result in a traffic accident later on in your life.
If regrettably you do have a road traffic accident and kill a cat, I’m told that you should:
- Bump your vehicle on a banana tree
- Wrap the deceased cat in your clothes
- Bury the deceased cat
- Pray to expel the bad luck
- After that, you should place a flower arrangement in the vehicle.
This helps to prevent bad things happening to you.
So, there is a lot to do if you unfortunately kill a cat on the road by driving into it. And all these things are respectful of the cat.
I could not find any references to the classic superstition that black cats bring bad luck if they cross your path.
Religion and superstition are linked. A cynical person might argue that religion itself is based upon superstition. Certainly, religion requires a lot of faith and belief. Beliefs are not far from superstitions. Superstitions are based upon an inherent fear of what might happen to us.
Humankind is quite fearful a lot of the time. People therefore try and do things which helps to protect against events that may happen in the future which might harm them. People pray to their God for this reason and as mentioned above, in Indonesia, people do a lot of things to ward off bad luck if they kill a cat on the road.
Below are some articles on cat superstitions.
