Happy Black Cat Appreciation Day

National Black Cat Appreciation Day is held August 17th of each year because black cats can still use a good spin doctor. They’re so sleek and seductive with their all-knowing yellow and green eyes, but black cats seldom get positive press even though they’re just as adorable as other cats. Let’s look at facts about this national day that honors our beautiful, sleek cats, and the reason why it was created in the first place and if you’re looking for a new friend, black or otherwise, visit your local shelter where most are having discounted or waived adoption fees for black cats for Black Cat Appreciation Day.

Nothing is quite as elegant as a black cat – like a miniature Amazonian jaguar – they doze atop the highest point in the area, waking for several hours daily to prowl around hunting for a tasty morsel. But black cats and kittens are often overlooked when animal shelters are looking for new homes, and can be at the shelter much longer than they should be. So why is this?

Black Cat Fireworks 1942 Vintage Men’s T-Shirt

Interestingly, cats in Ancient Egypt were revered highly, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice, rats. Cats of royalty were known to be dressed in golden jewelry and were allowed to eat right off their owners’ plates. The goddess of warfare was a woman with the head of a cat named Bastet.

These days, however, black cats are often are seen as unlucky or mischievous, but not everyone knows why that is. In Celtic mythology, it was believed that fairies could take the form of black cats, and therefore their arrival to a home or village was seen as a sign of good luck. Unfortunately, the Pilgrims that came after them were devoutly religious and fearful of anything remotely related to the pagan beliefs of their ancestors, and it was because of that fear that black cats went from being seen as the vessels of fairies to the vessels of witches and demons. At that time, it became common practice to severely punish those who kept black cats as pets, and even kill the animals themselves.

Although these days nobody really believes black cats are witches or demons in disguise anymore, they are still often seen as signs of bad luck by many people in the West…. read more >