Happy Mew Year for Cats Day
Meow Year day is a time for pet owners to show their cats how special they are and to enjoy their presence for the next year.
There are ways to celebrate Mew Year with your own cats or kitties, but also the holiday serves as a great way to bring awareness to various cat issues, such as abuse and neglect. Many people share adoptable cats' photos and pictures on their social networks on Mew Year's day. It's also a time to create awareness of the need for "no-kill shelters" for cats.
Cat New Year
Egyptians believed cats were magical creatures, capable of bringing good luck to the people who housed them. They were the first to raise cats at home as pets, and from there the breeding of cats spread all over the world and the interest in them increased until it became a global day on Jan 2 of each year.
That means that 4000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians began raising cats as pets, and from the Nile, the idea of raising cats spread, as it had a special place in ancient Egypt, and it was a symbol of love, as the goddess of love was embodied in the form of a cat.
Learn about how cats were honored in Ancient Egypt.
•The Egyptian "Miao" cat is considered one of the oldest breeds of cats in the world. It won a great position in religious beliefs and ancient Egyptian life. Cats appeared in the inscriptions of ancient Egyptian tombs and temples, statues were carved for them, and their worship appeared on a large scale, as well as mummification and burial of large numbers of them In tombs dedicated to her in the Late Period.
• Cats are very sacred beings to the ancient Egyptians. They called them Bastet, the goddess of tenderness and gentleness, and they were also a symbol of fertility, love, and tenderness. Bastet bore many titles, including "Lady of the Two Earths", "Lady of Lords", "Lady of Heaven" and “Ain Ra al-Salamah,” the center of her worship was Tel Basta in Sharkia, and she had a temple called “Bubastis.”
• The idea of killing a cat was an unforgivable crime punishable by the laws of ancient Egypt with the most severe penalties (death). The historian "Diodor Sicilian" mentioned that one of the ancient kings of Egypt had tried to mediate a Roman man who killed a cat unintentionally, but the Egyptian people revolted and insisted on applying that ruling.
• The ancient Egyptians dealt with the death of the cat very strangely, as the whole family was in mourning, and according to their traditions, all family members shaved their eyebrows in mourning as an expression of sadness and pain for its parting.
• They wrap the body of the deceased cat in linen, then put rice and some kinds of perfumes on it, then it is buried inside special underground cemeteries, and put milk and mice next to it.
• Cats were the cause of the defeat of the ancient Egyptians, in their war with the Persians in 525 BC, the Persians wrapped the cats around their hands; Which led to the defeat of the Egyptians for refusing to fight and defend themselves.
• Archaeologists have discovered about a million mummified cats, meticulously mummified, in a large cemetery in Egypt, and many cat cemeteries have also been discovered, including, for example, what is found in the British Museum, which is a mummy of a cat dating back to the first century AD.
• Because of the intensity of the ancient Egyptian’s love for the cat, many public figures were called by their titles. One of the ruling families, used the name “Tadi Bastet”, One of the temple singers during the reign of the same family was called "Nehmose Bastet," and there is also "Paddy Bastet," the minister of Upper Egypt during the era of the 26th family.
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