Black cat, white cat

In the Western culture, the appearance of a black cat is usually considered bad luck. I looked up on the Internet for its reason, and found out that it went far back to the early time of America. During the Salem witch trial period, people commonly believed that witches could transform themselves into black cats to roam around (and do evil deeds) unnoticed. Witches were the enemies of early Protestant Christianity, so black cats became somewhat a symbol of evil for the people who practice the religion. But almost everyone was protestant, so a black cat appeared as evil for almost everyone. The fact that black cats didn't extinct in New England is actually quite surprising (or maybe they did and just reappeared in more recent time). It seems that turning into a black cat defeated its purpose for the witches; however, the fame of bad luck lives on with black cats to today.

Last weekend when I went out to dine at a Asian restaurant in Chinatown, I realized there is also a symbolic cat in the Asian culture. You might have seen it too, whether on a taxicab of an Asian driver, or at an Asian convenience store; and interestingly, it always beckons you. “What a cute cat purely for decorative purpose!”- you might think. However, the reason why Asian people (or Asian immigrants living in the U.S.) endear this cat is much more amusing. After hours of research, validating research, asking professional help etc, I found out the reason for this cat's popularity.  

The story dates back to the Edo Period in Japan. Li Naotaka, a wealthy feudal lord was walking by a temple in Edo (now Tokyo) from falconry when it started raining heavily. Because of the rain, he decided to take shelter under a tree. Strangely, the temple priest's cat named Maneki Neko went to the temple's gate, endured all the wetness, and started to beckon to him. Finding this quite odd, the lord followed the cat to the temple. A brief second after he left the tree, it was struck by lightening and fell. The wealthy lord became extremely grateful for the cat and became friends with the poor priests in the temple. Only now he realized how bad the shape of the temple was. He donated lots of money to the temple and made it prosperous and more recognized. When the cat died, the first sculpture was made in its honor by the temple and it's been a symbol for happiness and prosperity ever since. Because Buddhism was prominent in Japan and Asia, the temple cat's popularity spread even further and somehow reached the United States in form of a blog.

As you might have thought of already, there are many interesting things about these cats. They are both cats, living in approximately the same time period, but one is loved and the other hated. Moreover, their popularities both originated from religions. Intriguingly, nowadays they are not really related to any specific religion anymore. When you ask people why these cats represent bad luck or happiness, people may not even know. The symbols have turned into a belief, a norm. Black cat- bad luck. Beckoning cat- good luck. It is interesting how a symbol or a belief of a religion can become detached from its religion and turn into an independent symbol.

A relevant issue is how people from different cultures and religions eventually end up in America and get to learn about symbols of each other. An Asian man who never travels anywhere (or see Western entertainment) would never know that a black cat's supposed to be a bad sign. On the other hand, people who live in less culturally diverse mountainous area in the U.S. may have no idea about existence of a waving cat. But when they gather in one place and get influenced by religions of others, in time they learn more to appreciate and respect others' religions and beliefs. We are lucky to be in New York City, one of the most culturally diverse place in the World; and we do see a high level of religious understanding in people here. I believe that it is the geographical separation sometimes makes it hard for people to truly understand others' faith.

Cultures and religions are there to be embraced and respected. I want to emphasize the importance of mutual respect in beliefs and religions of others. It is equal to knowing the limit of our own understanding of another foreign religions and always having open eyes and ears. We thus can't judge actions and beliefs of people from a totally different religious background without first spending some effort getting to know it. If a guy who whole-heartedly believes that seeing a black cat is bad luck laughs at a person who believes in the lucky beckoning cat and calls this guy superstitious, he is definitely a ridiculous guy. Going from cats to this conclusion seems like a big jump. However, by using a very simple example of cats we can see the richness of beliefs. My above example of the ridiculous black cat believer might be obvious, but some other stories might be more subtle and they do happen everyday.