Those who celebrate Halloween can recognize the costumes and decorations that are traditionally used during the season: witches, monsters, ghosts, pumpkins, and of course, the black cat. Most of these characters and symbols are quite creepy, which makes them an obvious choice for the spooky Halloween season... but what about the black cat? These beautiful felines are not outright scary, so how did they become associated with All Hallows' Eve?
Black cats are a relatively new addition to the Halloween season, all because of their dark coloured fur. As stylish as the colour black is today, it was not always believed to be a good colour. Ancient beliefs and religions including the Druids in Ireland, and Christians in England and America strongly believed that the colour black represented something bad or evil. Black cats are not only dark in colour but they have a mysterious personality, which is a big reason why people became very superstitious of them.
These unfortunate felines were especially given their bad reputation during the Dark Ages. During this time people became obsessed with purging their towns of witches and witchcraft. Witches were believed to take on a familiar, which was a lower-level minion who would help them to enact their dark deeds. These familiars were often felines. Strangely enough, witches did not choose only black felines, they chose all kinds of cats, yet somehow black-coated cats were the only type of feline to be given a bad reputation.
Why black cats?
Some people believe that black-coated cats were targeted because of their nocturnal nature, and their glowing eyes. Black furred felines can easily disguise themselves during the dark hours of the night. This would have been a scary thought for anyone during these witch trials, especially since some people believed that witches would disguise themselves as a cat at night.
So back to the original question... how did black cats become associated with Halloween? These dark furred felines likely piggybacked on the stories and traditions of their witch counterparts. Any time a story about a witch is told during the Halloween season, her black feline is often right alongside her.
Besides ancient beliefs about black cats being evil, there is no real evidence that black-coated cats are bad luck. There's nothing to fear about these beautiful felines during the Halloween season, or during any other time of the year. In fact, black furred cats are believed to be good luck in many places all over the world, so consider yourself lucky if you are the owner of one of these lovely felines.
