Halloween Cats

The wind was making weird sounds this full moon night. It blew against the trees pushing with all its might in an effort to pull it out of its roots. But the trees stood steadfast and moved their branches about, as if to scare the wind away. There further up the hill along the dark and deserted road, was a hut. Outside the hut sat an old lady with 5 children surrounding her. They looked at her with anticipation and jaws open wide. She was not concerned about them at the moment, instead she stared at the logs that had been collected in front of the hut; then she looked around and stared at the sky and in a loud and clear voice said, "I command you to stop blowing." At that very instant, the wind stopped blowing and everything stood still. Slowly she stretched her long fingers towards the logs and lit them by striking her fingers. Then she cleared her throat and began to tell the zealous listeners, the story of Halloween and the significance of cats.

Halloween, she began, was originally the New Years Eve of the Celts also known as Winter’s eve or the eve of Samhain. At this time people believed that the dead or disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies which they could possess the next year. Of course since the people who were alive did not want to be possessed by the lost souls, they would make their homes cold and inhospitable and wear ghoulish costumes and parade around the city making noise in order to frighten the spirits away.

Slowly she moved on to cats. Cats, she said were worshiped by Gods in Ancient Egypt, later on this creature was persecuted. Regarded as evil creatures, it was said that their teeth and breath were both poisonous. Even the hair of a cat could suffocate an unsuspecting peasant who was foolish enough to swallow it. Being secretive nocturnal animals further convinced people that they were the supernatural servants of witches or even the witch herself if she were capable of shape shifting.

The earliest record of cat persecution was in 962 A.D, in the northeastern town of Metz in France. It was the second Wednesday of Lent and the ceremony of Cat Wednesday was held in which hundreds of local cats that were believed to be witches in disguise were burnt alive. The official persecution was initiated by Pope Gregory IX, which lasted for the next eight centuries. After that Pope Innocent VIII issued another papal bull in 1484 that condemned a witch’s cat and said that it was to be burned alive with her at her execution.

Witchcraft and magic were associated with the black cat. It was believed that the Prince of Darkness himself borrowed the coat of a black cat to torment his victims. The scenario is the same in some cultures even today. During the 16th and 17th century 100,000 witches were executed in Germany, England was not far behind with 30,000 and then came along France with a further 75,000. With the death of cats the rodent population thrived. It was at this time that the importance of cats was recognized and it was suggested that they would only be exploited to destroy the vermin population and never shown any affection.

In the war against sorcery many heinous tasks were committed against humans and felines. It was in 1712, that the last execution of a cat for witchcraft took place. Thank God for that!