{"id":957,"date":"2017-10-30T12:16:26","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T17:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/?p=957"},"modified":"2020-02-13T13:24:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T18:24:36","slug":"national-cat-day-may-new-cats-worshipped-thousands-years-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/10\/national-cat-day-may-new-cats-worshipped-thousands-years-video\/","title":{"rendered":"National Cat Day May Be New, But Cats Have Been Worshipped For Thousands Of Years [video]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In America, October 29th is National Cat Day. And, while cute and fuzzy fur ball gifs dominated social media, what may be lesser known is the \u201cdeity status\u201d cats have held for thousands of years.<\/p>\n

Famous felines like, \u201cGrumpy Cat,\u201d Sylvester, Hello Kitty, Tom (Tom and Jerry), and many others, have graced the screen, held a corner on the books and games market, and more recently, taken social media by storm. Two of the most popular shows on the\u00a0Hallmark Channel\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0are the Kitten Bowl and Kitten Summer Games. And, the most popular videos online are of funny or cute cat and kitten compilations.<\/p>\n

Cats have also been the focus of\u00a0scientific studies, one of which recently\u00a0argues that<\/a>\u00a0the common house cat, pound for pound, is just as ferocious as its wild cousin and unleashes more power in the milliseconds before it pounces\u2013 than a racehorse. Several archeological findings also indicate that cats accompanied vikings on their travels.<\/p>\n

But beyond their nature of pet or predator, cats have represented deities in various cultures worldwide for thousands of years. Which is why, today, some cultural traditions still advise people not to double cross a cat\u2013 without jeopardizing their souls.<\/p>\n

Here are a few cat goddesses not to be reckoned with:<\/p>\n

In Celtic Mythology<\/strong>, the Welsh goddess of wisdom, Ceridwen, was the mother of the famous bard Taliesin. Her attendants were white cats who carried out her orders worldwide.<\/p>\n

The Chinese<\/strong>\u00a0Book of Rites<\/em>\u00a0tells the story of the Chinese cat god, Li Shou, whom farmers worshipped to\u00a0protect their crops from rats and mice.<\/p>\n

In Egypt,<\/strong> the cat goddess Bast (or Bastet), was\u00a0the deity of fertility, motherhood, and protection. Even mummies were reportedly afraid of Bast, as she was the prowling overseer of the underworld. Cats were used to guard homes, and were bred and sacrificed to Bast. Their bodies were preserved and buried in miniature cat-shaped coffins so they could remain with their owners in the afterlife.<\/p>\n