Greetings Fabulous Felines and Hoomans of Hivelandia and surrounding communities!

Guess what?

October 27th is National Black Cat Day!

And that would be today! Of course, this particular black cat is fortunate to feel like he gets celebrated on all days!

The Mom-Hooman — aka @cosmictriage even created this cool graphic for me!

National Black Cat Day dates back to 2011, and was created by the "Cats Protection" organization in the UK, but have grown into worldwide day of recognition of black cats.

It originally came about as a way to encourage people to adopt black cats from shelters and to help dispel negative myths and superstitions surrounding black cats.

We are definitely not bad luck!

However, we do have a lot of folklore and enigmas attached to us.

The Whole "Bad Luck" Thing...

As best can be determined, the whole "bad luck" thing came about during the Middle Ages, where some people — particularly in the Catholic Church — believed that Witches we shape-shifters, and that their preferred non-human form was that of a black cat. This, however, was essentially nonsense... but the myth created a long-lasting bias against black cats. It is only in somewhat recent times that these old superstitions are starting to unravel.

The Egyptians Worshipped Us!

Many people are aware that the ancient Egyptians were very find of cats and worshipped them as part of their culture.

However, not everyone is aware that black cats had a special place in Egyptian culture, and was associated with the Egyptian Goddess Bastet whose form was often depicted as having a black cat head.

Lucky Ship's Cats!

In many cases, black cats have historically been seen as good fortune.

In a distant past, sailors believed that having a black "ship's cat" was good fortune; helping ensure a safe passage across the oceans, because — it was believed — it would calm the winds and the sea.

Paradoxically, if a black cat decided to leave your ship, that was seen as a sign of impending misfortune.

National Black Cat Day Matters!

We observe National Black Cat Day — which is different from Black Cat Appreciation Day on August 17th — as a way to celebrate the many positive aspects of black cats!

We definitely make beautiful and loving companions, and whereas we may look enigmatic and mysterious, we are just as cute and playful as cats of other colors!

If you're considering adopting a kitten, why not make it a black kitten?

When you adopt a black cat from a shelter, you are not only giving a "forever home" to a wonderful companion, you are also helping to shatter the negative myths surrounding black cats!

Happy National Black Cat Day, everyone!

Thanks for coming to visit my blog, and don't forget that Saturday is CATURDAY!

See you tomorrow!

=^..=

Love Cats? Get Involved in Hive's Cat Communties!

If you're a cat lover and often/sometimes post pictures or other content that includes your feline friends, why not become an active part of Hive's growing Cat Communities?

These are some of the more active Cat Communities — why not join them ALL? Many of the allow you to share your cat posts, even if you started at a different community!

HiveCats by @curatorcat is a central "gathering place" for cat content on Hive; promoting the use of the #hivecats tag for feline content!

Cat Snaps by @manorvillemike is a place to post pictures of your cats when you don't have a whole lot to say beyond just sharing your cute photos!

Caturday by @saboin is a community where we get to celebrate posts relating to Saturday — aka "Caturday" — our own special day!

Cat Photos by @andrarchy is a "mixed use" cat content community; posts can be just photos or longer, as long as the subject is CATS!

Cats by @captainklaus (and Sissi!) is another "general" cat content community.

There are a number of other feline communities listed on Hive, but I am not sharing them for now as they have not had any activity (by their Admins OR users) since the Steem/Hive fork. Updates as they become available!

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