Myths and cats.
A cat plays an important role in the life of a person. This fact can be proved by numerous ancient legends and stories connected with cats. Humanity has always paid particular attention to cats and always though they were saint and had some magical abilities.
The first statements about a cat date back to ancient Egypt. Ancient Egypt was an agricultural country that is why it had the necessity to conserve the harvest and cats were those who protected this harvest from rodents. Besides, people started to keep them in their houses with the same aim. Later there were taught to hunt with people. These and many other reasons made of a cat the saint animal for people of Egypt. It was considered to be a "guarder of the house and family", that is why these animals were protected by law. A finger or a hand and sometimes even life were taken for the murder of a cat.
Sometimes ancient Egyptians even lost the battles because of the cult of cats. The enemy put the dead cat on their shields and the Egyptians according to their religious beliefs had no right to attack a cat.
These animals were considered to be the animals of the goodness of the moon thanks to the mystery they had, the night life, the shining eyes and gracefulness. That is why this goodness was considered to have the head of the cat.
With time cats have become famous all over the world. In Rome a cat was considered to be the symbol of freedom and independence, and always accompanied the images of the goodness of freedom.
Vikings loved and respected a cat as it was considered to be the saint animal and the god of love, besides cats always had the wings in Viking's images.
France considered cats to be the companions of witches. White and black cats had the special magic abilities according to beliefs of French people.
In Japan a cat was a cruel animal that had bad intentions and which had the supernatural power, sometimes a cat obtained the features of the vampire in Japanese traditional legends. To the contrary, Chinese people believed that a cat protected the house from evil spirits.
In medieval times cats were executed with witches as they were considered to be the companions of devil, especially black ones. And if a person had a black cat in his/her house, it was the best proof that he or she was a witch.
The reason is that cats are mysterious animals that provoke the interest among people of all nationalities, some of them see a kind creature in a cat, and to the contrary the others believe cats are evil.
Thanks to mythology, some beliefs, traditions and mystifications passed to modern every-day life of people. And it plays a very important role because people want to have a special animal in their family.
Nowadays a cat is considered to be the keeper and the guarder of the house. Maybe now it is not considered to be the magical creature but it is still the most popular pet in the world. Cats keep people from depression accompanying and indirectly communicating with a person.