Every Cat

Posts Tagged ‘cat tattoos’

Throughout history cats have been considered to have a magnetic or even magical appeal.  To many of us, the cat is a lovable pet and valued member of the family, whose appeal is very much tied up to its personality.  The cat embodies many contradictory characteristics, at once mysterious and sublime yet also mysterious, independent and aloof yet also affectionate and demanding, these graceful, beautiful animals have fascinated mankind for ages.

In ancient Egypt’s, the cat was worshipped as a sacred or even Godlike animal.  Cats are valued highly and were domesticated and brought into houses.Those who harms cats were punished very severely, and anyone who killed the cat could be executed for their crime.  In addition to their role as adored and worshipped creatures, cats also performed useful functions such as killing vermin like rats and mice, and even snakes.  In arts, human and cat features were often combined to convey a sub lime gracefulness to the features of a human being, and people were proud to wear cat tattoos.

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, cats were valued for their practical role in controlling vermin and protecting vital food supplies.Also, they were worshipped as protecting spirits who looks over the household and prevented harm.

However, this is all to change.The belief in even magic and witchcraft was widespread during the dark ages.  At this time, cats were considered to be evil, doing the work of the Devil at night.Due to a widespread belief that witches could turn themselves into animals like bats, the average person and started to think that sll cats WERE actually witches in disguise.  There are recorded cases of people being tortured and executed simply for helping cats who were injured.Cat owners were often tried and executed as witches merely from the fact of owning a cat.

There are many recorded reports of panicing swarms of people sweeping through villages towns and even cities killing every single cats in sight.  This was organised and led by the Catholic church which resulted in the almost complete extinction of cats in Europe by 1400.  Due to the massive reduction in the cat population, the vermin population boomed and this left the door open to plauges carried by rats. Europe was brought to its knees by these awful diseases that killed more than half of all the people alive at the time. This is a lesson will never be forgotten.

After this had occurred, people discovered that cats were more important than they had thought, and so the feline population started growing again.  As a result, ships sailing to the New World either with colonists, or simply to trade, often carried cats on board.The cats that live in North America now are the descendants of those early cats.