17th August Black Cat Appreciation Day

What is special about black cats? Quite a lot really. Our family has been a cat family. For eighteen years we had two very curious, very opinionated, very sociable Tonkinese cats and one of them was very dark, black in most lights. He was the runt of his litter and my daughter was convinced we should take him home. In contrast, his champagne coloured brother was the alpha male of the litter. He was in charge and he was the boss at home too. He ate first, he decided where they would sleep, what they would play, so when the 'boss' died first we feared for our black cat because we thought he would be at a loss. We should not have worried, he'd had a good teacher and he just became the 'boss' in every way. 

Black cats have a lot of lore and superstitions that surround them and they haven’t always been greeted with love and adoration. For our family a black cat was not a problem, but black cat symbolism varies from culture to culture and runs the gamut from symbolising a positive omen to being the harbinger of bad luck. 

Irish and Scottish people respected black cats as they believed that crossing paths with one would bring prosperity to your home.

In Japan and much of Asia, black cats symbolize good luck. Some Japanese folklore suggests that if a single woman crosses a black cat, she will find many potential suitors. 

In Greek Mythology, Hera, the Queen of the Gods, turned Galinthias, her servant, into a black cat in a fit of anger. Galinthias, in cat form, became an assistant to Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, the moon, and death.

In North America, the Puritans who settled in New England believed that witches possessed the ability to change into black cats.

How do black cats fare in children's books? 

They are often portrayed as the villain. See Scarface Claw and Slinky Malinki  in the Hairy Maclary series.

 A Dark, Dark Tale  by Ruth Brown

Is Sid  from Six Dinner Sid, by Inga Moore a villain? 

They are often part of stories about witches and Halloween. See

•  Moonlight the Halloween Cat  by Cynthia Rylant

• Trixie the Witch's Cat by Nick Butterworth

• Rumblewick,  the witch's cat from the series of books that started with My Unwilling Witch by Hiaywn Oram

• Mog from the  Meg and Mog  series by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. Mog does have some white stripes though.

Then there are the favourite series where they are not witch's cats, villains or heroes.

• Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton

• Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin and James Dean

The article I read did say that black cats were less likely to be adopted from cat shelters. There is 'black cat bias'. Research shows that this is because 

• People view black cats as less friendly and more aggressive

• People are still superstitious

• People believe they’re not able to read the emotions of black cats

Two books about adopted black cats are

• Holly  by Ruth Brown

• The Black Cat Who Only Wanted to be Loved by Rosa Silva

Still need convincing black cats reign supreme...read