Dr. Desmond Morris makes an interesting statement in his book Cat World. He writes about the Japanese Bobtail and says that the popularity of this short-tailed cat in Japan is partly due to the fact that there is a Japanese folk myth called a ‘bakeneko’ which warns that long-tailed cats can change into human …
Cat superstitions still exist big time. They are considered to be a part of history but this is simply untrue. Nowadays superstitions surrounding the cat are tied up with a lack of knowledge of the cat and, frankly, sometimes distrust and dislike of the cat, just as was the case in medieval Europe. Education …
COMMENT: Sadly, due to a lack of education, many people in Kenya, especially along the Indian Ocean coast, still believe, hundreds of years after cats were persecuted during the Middle Ages, that domestic and stray cats are evil. As the spaying and neutering of cats in Kenya is probably rare, they procreate which doesn’t …
Filipinos are a superstitious race. Superstitious beliefs play an important role in their decision making according to my research. The Philippines is still considered a developing country. Is it fair to say that the citizens of developing countries tend to be more superstitious that those of developed countries? Perhaps but the Philippines has an …
Everything on the internet about the Manten kucing rain making ritual is in Indonesian. This is the first page on the topic in English! 🙂 The problem: Google translate is not that good. It is difficult to understand the ritual from poorly translated Indonesian but here goes. From what I can glean from these …
I am going to stick my neck out, metaphorically speaking, and claim that the black cat superstition may have started with a Papal Bull of 1233 made by Pope Gregory IX. In the 13th century the church wanted to root out heretics and they sent an inquisitor whose name was Konrad von Marburg to …
Today, I feel like diversifying. Pushing the envelope as I always like to do. One way of doing it is to address topics which are rarely addressed. One such topic is whether people of colour, specifically black people, don’t really like cats or companion animals in general. ‘Persons of colour’ refers to non-white people. …
I’ll be brief. There is a curious early European tradition, based on superstition, which appears to have been brought forward to the modern age in some places, that kittens born in the month of May should be destroyed because if they are allowed to grow they will become “dirty cats”. I’ve just read an …
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