Black cat
The black cat is a feline whose fur is uniformly black.
It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed. The all-black pigmentation is equally prevalent in both male and female cats, and typically skips one generation due to the characteristic's association with the X chromosome[citation needed]. The black colour is of obvious benefit to a cat hunting at night. In Western history, black cats have often been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens: in other cultures, they are considered to be good omens. Black cats generally have green eyes but occasionally may have other eye colors.[citation needed]
Historical associations
Witchcraft and superstition
Historically, black cats were symbolically associated with witchcraft and evil. In Hebrew and Babylonian folklore, cats are compared to serpents, coiled on a hearth.
In Europe, apart in Italy or Spain, a black cat crossing one's path is considered good luck; however they were also seen by the church as associated with witches. Black cats (and sometimes, other animals of the same colour, or even white cats) were sometimes suspected of being the familiars of witches. The black cat was still usually seen as good luck; however, in the USA and parts of Europe (e.g. Spain), which saw witch hunts, the association with witches caused them to be considered as bad luck.
In places which saw few witch hunts, black cats retained their status as good luck, and are still considered as such in Britain and Ireland.
However in Romanian and Indian culture, especially in the historical region of Moldavia in Romania and everywhere in India, one of the strongest superstitions still feared by many people is that black cats crossing their path represents bad luck, despite the fact that these regions were never affected by witch hunts or anti-paganism.
Anarcho-Syndicalism
Since the 1880s, the color black has been associated with anarchism. The black cat, in an alert, fighting stance was later adopted as an anarchist symbol.
More specifically, the black cat — often called the "sab cat" or "sabo-tabby"[1] — is associated with anarcho-syndicalism, a branch of anarchism that focuses on workers' rights. See wildcat strike.
In testimony before the court in a 1918 trial of Industrial Workers of the World leaders, Ralph Chaplin, who is generally credited with creating the IWW's black cat symbol, stated that the black cat "was commonly used by the boys as representing the idea of sabotage. The idea being to frighten the employer by the mention of the name sabotage, or by putting a black cat somewhere around. You know if you saw a black cat go across your path you would think, if you were superstitious, you are going to have a little bad luck. The idea of sabotage is to use a little black cat on the boss."[2]
Bohemian culture
Le Chat Noir (French for "The Black Cat") was a 19th-century cabaret in the notoriously bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard Rouchechouart by the artist Rodolphe Salis, and closed in 1897 (much to the disappointment of Picasso and others who looked for it when they came to Paris for the Exposition in 1900).
Black cats in American popular culture
The archaic associations of black cats with bad luck or evil once appeared frequently in North American popular culture, but are no longer widely held. In the early years of television, several stations located on "unlucky" channel 13 made sport of the association by using black cats as mascots.[citation needed]
It is said that a black cat crossing your path is bad luck, but letting one in your house is good luck.
A black cat, either brought into or entering Shea Stadium on its own, walked onfield late in the 1969 season during a game between the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets. The cat approached and circled Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo while he was in the on-deck circle. This distraction was followed by the collapse of the Cubs and the success of the Mets in the late season, who overcame the Cubs' eight-game lead in the playoff race to eventually win the division, the National League pennant and the World Series. The Cubs' loss (and possibly the cat's appearance) became another chapter in Cubs Billy Goat curse legend.[3]
Eveready Batteries has used a black cat leaping through the digit 9 as its logo.
In 1990, recording artist Janet Jackson's single Black Cat reached the number 1 spot on Billboard's Top 100 and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts.
The popular fireworks manufactuer Black Cat Fireworks uses a black cat as their logo. The company decided to use the black cat because in China black cats are a symbol of good luck.
Witchcraft
Black cats, because of their ability to remain unseen in dark places or at night, were considered especially desirable partners for witches. Some witches were purported to have the ability to shape-shift into a cat nine times, hence the archaic belief that cats have "nine lives"[citation needed]. Black cats were sometimes used in magical rituals, sometimes as purported participants, other times as sacrifices.[4] In witch trials, ownership of a cat was often taken as "evidence" of Satanic association and witchcraft. Cats, believed to be evil in their own right, were often punished or burned alive along with humans during these trials.
Both historically and today, some religious and spiritual groups purportedly engage in ritualistic sacrifice of cats, though studies have mainly found that such reports belong squarely in the province of urban legend. Many modern witches keep black cats as pets, and view them as sacred.
In Russia, there is still a popular belief that if a black cat crosses a person's path in the street, that person should either choose a different direction in order to walk around the cat's path or cross it holding a button in his/her fingers (it could be a button on a person's jacket, pants, or shirt).[citation needed]
References
- ^ Industrial Workers of the World, | An Alphabet Soup: The IWW Union Dictionary
- ^ Red November, Black November: Culture and Community in the Industrial Workers of the World, Salvatore Salerno, 1989, SUNY Press, page 178, from U.S. v. W.D. Haywood, et al, testimony of Ralph Chaplin, July 19, 1918, IWW Collection, Box 112, Folder 7, pp. 7702 & 7711, Labor History Archive, Wayne State University.
- ^ History of the Billy Goat Curse
- ^ catherine yronwode, Black cat spells
