Alrighty then...in honour of our black feline friends, a couple of husband's photographs from his Flickr pages. We often meet cats of all hues on our wanders, in antique or vintage stores and elsewhere, he seldom misses an opportunity for a pic. Truly black cat photos, as it happens, were not as plentiful as snaps of cats of different colours. Captions are husband's, from Flickr.October 27 has been designated ‘Black Cat Day’ by Cats Protection in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to celebrate the virtues of black cats and to encourage people to adopt an unwanted black cat. Cats Protection’s own figures suggest that black cats are more difficult for them to find a new home for than other colours. In 2014, the RSPCA reported that 70% of the abandoned cats in its care were black, suggesting a possible reason was that people considered black cats "un-photogenic".
What is your purpose in visiting our store?
In fact, if you are not going to scratch my chin, what is your purpose?
Who let you in here?
Watch it.
Keep your distance, this bird feeder is my territory.
(This one, dated May 2004, was taken in England, a few months before we left, for emigration (me), or to return home (he).
Stray Cat
(Found in the Children's area of the Salina [Kansas]Art Center.)
It's appropriate that Black Cat Day lies within zodiac sign Scorpio, and close to Hallowe'en. Black cats have traditional connection to witches, witches have traditional connection to Hallowe'en, and Hallowe'en, with its ghoulies and ghosties and all manner of nasties is nicely (or nastily) compatible with Scorpio's alleged darker side.
Beautiful cats and I like "Stray Cat". I live near an elementary school and on occasion some stray art produced by one of the kiddos floats into my yard, which is always a delightful find. I've kept several.
ReplyDeleteMy neighborhood has an unknown, prolific, mother of black kittens. We've become inundated with the critters this past year. Most of the feral cats around here are fearful of the humans, but these black kittens show-up wanting attention, affection, and of course, food. It's as if the mother specially instructed these black kitties to become successful beggars.
I don't have any black clothing, but I do have one pair of black shoes. I hadn't thought about it until now. I don't purposely avoid black-colored clothing, but I can't explain the lack, unless it's subconscious. I think most women look stunning in a simple, black evening dress, which makes me think of Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
Sadly, here in the USA, with all of us Scorpio maniacs running around at Halloween, many black cats are allegedly abused. However, according to Snopes, we can blame that [and many other things] on the "Church":
"Sacrificing cats began in medieval times, when the Church decreed that felines were friends of the devil. With their darting eyes and sinister-looking coats the color of death, black cats became known as witches' mascots. They also were known as 'familiars,' through which witches could communicate with the spiritual world."
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/blackcat.asp
Black leopard (panther?) ceramic sculptures were very popular in the 1950s on top of the large, console TVs.
mike ~ I remember there used to be a tradition that if a black cat crossed your path it was a lucky sign. Probably that still exists. Black cats have both bad and good attributes, just like Scorpio (or any other sign - or any other thing!) :-) There was another tradition in the UK I recall, that if you see a white horse you must cross your fingers until...(don't remember the rest of it!) Googling for help on this on this, (Google.com/ books) led me to an old book extract re North Carolina Folklore and they also had a tradition about what to do if one sees a white horse: "spit on the palm of your hand, smack it 4 times and make a wish - it will come true." (Link too long to post here).
ReplyDeleteI used to wear all black occasionally - feels a bit funereal these days. I prefer dark navy blue. Audrey would have looked good clad even in a black garbage bag! :-)
I have a small black panther ceramic ornament - often see them, in all sizes, in vintage and antique stores. Mrs Simpson (abdicated King Edward VIII's lady) had a thing for expensive diamond encrusted panther brooches, that'd have been around the same time the black panther ornaments were popular I suppose - panther fixations must have been in the air. :-)
Is this it?:
ReplyDelete"In some places it is lucky to meet a white horse; in others, unlucky; either way, tradition states that upon meeting a white horse one should spit and make a wish, or cross one's fingers until a dog (usually a white dog) is seen."
http://www.ablackhorse.com/board/index.php?/topic/11572-horse-superstitions-and-old-wives-tales/
mike (again) ~ That's it, yes! Thanks. What a list !
ReplyDeleteAs it happens I do have a horse-shoe (as in another horsey tradition listed) lying on top of the small filing cabinet near my desk. It came from above the door of my parent's house. My grandma, also, always had a horse-shoe hanging by their back door. As the list says, in Britain the shoes are kept with the "U" shape facing upward, to "hold in the luck". Brides still often carry silver (cardboard) horse-shoes along with their bouquets in Britain - maybe here also. It wouldn't do for them to carry a black cat image if it's a church wedding! :-)
Yes, that is a lengthy things-to-do list to bring good luck or avoid the bad. I perused a couple of sites providing long lists that were different from that one. Good thing I'm not the superstitious type! I've know some that are. I'd be spending all day, every day performing obsessive-compulsive, bizarre rituals...LOL.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/l/lucky_cat.asp
One that did get me when I was about eight years old is the neurotic-inducing "Step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back." I avoided cracks for some time.
"...most kids figure out right away that people who step on cracks in the sidewalk don’t come home to dead mothers and don’t get chased by bears (at least not very often)."...LOL!
http://www.smartalecksguide.com/2011/09/are-there-dark-origins-behind-step-on.html
This link also has an interesting discussion about that phrase used in the UK in the 1950s.
mike (again) ~ Good cartoon! :-)
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough the superstition about stepping on cracks wasn't one I knew of...well, not exactly. I do have a vague memory of someone telling me that it can be unlucky to step on the join between paving stones - related I guess, but certainly I never heard or was aware of the detail mentioned in the link you provided. I think I used to put the thing about stepping on the join between paving stones down to having something to do with hopscotch. Daft me!
Huh! 'Black Cat Day'. It sounds highly racist to me. What about white cats, tortoiseshell, ginger, tabby...do they get their own day, too? No! On behalf of all non-black cats everywhere, I protest loudly and strongly. And, what about black dogs..?
ReplyDelete;-)
RJ Adams ~ I see the beginnings of a movement here, RJ: ACM (All Cats Matter) ;-)
ReplyDeleteDogs - well, somehow they don't bring out the superstitions in us in the way some cats do, maybe because we've called them "man's best friends" for so long.
Ah, but then there's the goats. Works of the devil, if ever there was one!
ReplyDeleteRJ Adams ~ Ah yes! Consequently we have scapegoats, and sometimes find ourselves dividing sheep from goats, and then things 'get my goat" - which the U.S. election season is doing more and more each day! ;-)
ReplyDelete