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Trivia: The cat is very important in Ancient Northern European
culture and tales. Many last names come from cat as their ancient
tribes totem. MacNeishe, MacBain, MacIntosh and MacNicol all
had the cat as their totem, may have been septs of a tribal whole at
one time. Scots were involved with the Picts and there was
one tribe of Picts called Kati. Caithness and Sutherland was known
as cat country. A famous Bard Talc, son of Trone was known as the
cat-headed Chief. His battle garb was that of a cat skin with its
head on his helmet. That tribes warriors all wore cat heads.
more to come
Cats were not really important in Celtic culture until the Early Middle Ages, since (domestic) cats were unknown in Northern or Western Europe until they were introduced by the Greeks and Romans. Before that, cats were only native to the Middle East and North Africa.
ReplyDeleteHello Unknown. Thanks for your comment although the person you got your information has proven false. Cats reached European countries way earlier and is proven in many writings. Try to stay away from newagey wiccan or new age faiths for your info. But some cats were stolen and taken to Greece around the year 3000 B.C. it does say in some Egyptian chronicles. There is hardly any historic register of cats however, but we do have references to people who owned cats. For example, Saint Agatha, also known as Saint Cat, passed away in the year 251 A.C. February 5th is her day in the Saints' calendar and it is said that she appeared in the shape of a cat on that date. Saint Jerome, who passed away in the year 420 A.C. had a cat who was occasionally represented in paintings of the saint. Pope Gregory is also said to have a cat as a loyal companion. The years you speak of is when the superstition became prevalent.
ReplyDeleteIn 31 BC, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. Cats were introduced into Roman life, becoming truly widespread in Europe around the 4th century AD.4 A cat skeleton from this period shows the shortened skull of domestic cats today. Conclusion: Anonymous, Please post a comment after you've got accurate information and have studied from many sources. I myself have 30 years study
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