Simple Cat Superstitions

At a more humble level, cats have inspired numerous superstitions. Between the XVII and XIX Century, on some countries it was a custom to immure the body of a cat (generally dead, but sometimes alive) at newly built houses to put it under the main lintel to attract good luck.

The rural folklore of some countries also includes stories about cats. It was believed that a cat born in May would attract snakes to the house. They also would say that sold cat where not good rodent hunters; the best hunters are those that are given away.

Marriageable young women should be especially careful with cats. A young woman that should have a cat in her lap would die a bachelor spinster.

But in meteorology is the scope in which cats have the most number of superstitions, maybe due to the association of cats with fertility in the many ancient cultures or from the presumed capacity of witches and cats to provoke meteorological catastrophes.

However, there are contradictory sayings .For example, according to popular believes, when cats clean their ears it is a sign that it is going to rain.

On the other hand, at the north of England the belief is the contrary. A British TV program made a survey between the audience that had cats, but the results weren’t conclusive.

The imminence of rain is the theme for other pair of sayings in conflict.

Jonathan Swift, author of the journeys of Gulliver, remits to the popular folklore in a poem that sustains that, when there is a menace of rain, cats stop playing and become calm and pensive.

Swift was born and lived in Ireland, and maybe this is what Irish observe. But in the rest of the British Isles they believe that, if cat is disturbed and jumpy, the rain will fall at any minute.

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