Don't Let it Cross Your Path: Black Cats
By Jaselyn Garcia and Sawyer Hancock
Do you know the myth of black cats? Do you know the story behind it and how it became? In this article we’ll tell you about the myth and why black cats are “Bad luck”.
The myth of black cats most likely originated from medieval times when witches were punished and black cats were thought to be close to witches or witches themselves. In Welsh Folklore, it depicts that they would bring good luck home and that they were even good weather predictors. Carnegie Museum of Natural History says, “In some European folklore, black cats are considered common companions of witches and bringers of misfortune if they happen to cross your path.” In the 13th century of medieval times, the Catholic churches declared them as an incarnate of Satan. “I saw one and nothing happened,” Oskar Baugh says.
Different countries think different things about black cats. Some think black cats are lucky and some think they are unlucky. In Japan black cats are considered lucky! They believe that they are lucky especially for single women, helping them become lucky in love. They also have something called Maneki Neko, a fortune cat that is used to ward off evil. In Italy they are considered unlucky. Italy believes if a black cat comes onto your path, a sick person will die. In Germany they are both lucky and unlucky. It all depends on which way it crosses your path. If a black cat crosses left to right it is considered lucky. If it crosses right to left it is considered unlucky. Jasmine Puma from 6th grade says “Black cats are just cats. It's not that hard to realize that black cats don't bring luck, and they're just living their lives. It's not their fault that people are too blind to see that they're just cats. The superstition is simply dumb, and unreasonable.”
Alexsis Critchlow, from 6th grade, says, “Yes, because one time a black cat bit me. The next day I couldn’t find my phone.” There are so many different superstitions about black cats. One of the legends comes from Egypt. In Egypt, black cats are said to be a descendant of Egyptian goddess Bastet, who was known to take the form of a lioness and then later the form of a black cat. The descendants of the goddess were thought to have supernatural powers. Another legend was black cats would come from the sailors of the oceans. The sailors believed that with black cats on board, it would keep them safe and that they would have good health on their journeys. This legend could have risen from the fact that cats are great hunters and keep rodent populations down. Also, in certain parts of the world, it’s believed that if a black cat accidently gets soaked with water, it will make it rain, out of revenge.
We made a poll of who thinks that black cats bring bad luck, bring good luck, or if they just think that they are regular cats. Our results were out of 112 responses and they said that 81% of people said no, they aren't bad luck, and 18% said yes, they are bad luck. What do you think? Some responses we got are, Ava Kopach from 7th grade says “Cause I've been around them a lot and I've never, like, gotten hit by a car the next day or something.” Clayton from 7th grade says, “My mom told me”. Eric Pedan says “ That means white cats bring good luck, right?” Matthew says ”Once upon a time on a cold Christmas eve I saw a crow, this was an ordinary crow, but I couldn't help but feel like I should say something to it, "Hello there, little crow," I said in a British accent, "How are you today?" "I'm well," the crow replied. I woke up, it was just a bad dream.”
In conclusion, the ancient legend about black cats being either good or bad luck has been going around for mnay generation