WHY BLACK CATS ARE LUCKY.

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIII, Issue 3072, 19 June 1923, Page 3

WHY BLACK CATS ARE LUCKY.

THE ORIGINS OF SOME POPULAR

SUPERSTITIONS

Mont of us have some pet superstition. Ask the man who says he isn’t superstitious to spill the salt, walk under a ladder, smash a mirror, open an umbrella indoors, get out of bed with the left foot first, kick a black cat, or start a new business on a Friday. 1-le’ll probably gasp and shudder like a jelly-fish in a thunderstorm ! Friday is considered an unlucky day because for centuries it was the only day chosen for public executions.

The idea that it is unlucky to walk under a ladder has its origin in the remembrance of the ladder used at Calvary, while the dislike to the number “13” can be traced to the number present at the Last Supper. Here, too, we get the origin of the belief that ill-luck is sure to follow the spilling of salt. It will be remembered by those familiar with da Vinci’s famous painting of “The Last Supper” that Judas is shown upsetting the salt.

The proverb that to “help a person to salt” is to “help him to sorrow” probably had its birth in the fear of accidental spilling. Until recent years the umbrella was a distinctive badge of monarchs and nobles, and to-day the King of Siam hears as one of his titles, “Lord of the Tent House and Umbrellas.” For anyone to open an umbrella in the bouse of the mighty was regarded as an assumption of royal prerogative—a violation of etiquette which would get the offender into serious trouble. In other words it was very unlucky for him ! If you wish to have a lucky day, take care to place the right foot on the floor first when getting out of bed. This is necessary, the superstitious will tell you, because if the right foot is right the left must he wrong.

Again, by smashing a mirror you destroy your reflected image. A death will follow, declare the timid. It usually does, sooner or later, even when a mirror is not smashed. So much for unlucky omens. Their sinister influence is easily counteracted by the lucky ones !

Try black cats, for instance, if you want to prosper. The Ancient Egyptians worshipped them. They honoured all cats, but particularly black ones. Embalmed and mummified specimens have often been found. And don’t, forget when a new v moon appears to turn the money in your pocket. The belief in this custom is a relic of that most ancient of all forms of religion—moon worship.

Another lucky custom is that of throwing an old shoe after a bride and bridegroom. Among the laws and audiences given in the book of Deuteronomy, the removal of the shoe marks the winding up of negotiations, while in Anglo-Saxon marriages the bride’s father delivered her shoe to the bridegroom, who touched her on the head wuth it in token of his authority.

The popularity of Juno as a month for marriages is inherited from the Greeks and Romans. The goddess Juno, to whom the month was dedicated, was the patroness of marriage. The discrimination between May and June, had its origin in the face that while Juno was the lawful wife of Jupiter, the goddess Maia was only Jupiter’s affinity. Horse-shoes are supposed to bring good luck because they represent, according to old Druidical ideas, a sacred circle open to the lucky finder. See a pin and pick it up,

All the day you’ll have good luck, runs an old couplet voicing a superstition founded on a psychological fact. If the mind is so alert and active that the eye perceives so small an object as a dropped pin. it will naturally follow that such a man will as a rule, accomplish a successful day’s work.