BLACKS AND CATS

WHY ARE AFRICANS AFRAID OF CATS? 

Hello My name is Valu recently i decided to ask a few friends why they Think Nigerians (Africans Generally) have an Immense fear for Cats 

Here are feedbacks i got from Some of Them, some are Funny, others are quite illuminating while some are just....find out yourself 

Follow the Link below to see the Video that Comes with this Answers on why Black people are scared of Cats

Cats na witch! - Rita

Personally i love
cats-Ademola adeloye

We believe in our mentality “that cats are evil , and people use them for evil things “ - James Jassey 

They feel cats are easily possessed unlike dogs and so can be used for witchcraft easily. That's a fact tho but we're more superstitious than white people and so we take it more seriously than they do - Anonymous 

 Africans believe cats is an animal used for evil doing both physically and spiritually 

Some africans that fear and dont fear cat, when they catch it,it becomes a meat in pot(best served with garri,sugar and block water for Nigerians) hehehehe - Big Sam

 I can't really give a definite answer, because at some point I myself don't like cat,because it get demonic easily.

Cat itself is scary to human.

Thanks for the opportunity - Akpan 

 No idea

I grew up watching a soap on TV then hauwa or something like that a cat was used in the movie to play a particular role that I can't remember and since then I've got that mindset that evil spirits could enter into a cat - BlanQtone 

I am from both Delta state and Akwa Ibom states but I grew up in Benin city,  Edo state...

For some weird reasons (which I'm completely oblivious of), these three states believe so much in witchcraft and their dealings with humans... I think they lend the origins of these beliefs to ancestry and diabolism.

In Benin, one of the many animals believed to be frequently used by witches (manipulated diabolically against man) is the cat..funny...

 Maybe because of its unique glow-in-the-dark eyes, claws and it's mew sound, which I think is sexy by the way...

I grew up learning to shout 'blood of Jesus!' when a cat is in sight as we were terrified by their presence.

Then my University days were in Uyo. It was a major cultural shift for me because there, I could see people own cats as pets, mainly for its antagonistic nature to mice/rats...

I had to unlearn my dread of cats and began to nurse an affinity for the poor animal...

 I visited my parents one year and met a pet cat at home...Jeeeez!!! - Tsalu Ayomi

What a lovely thing...whenever I'm sitted, it would curl around my legs and keep puffing and rubbing me with fur...and when it went hunting lizards and rats, it would carry the carcass in its teeth and bring it to my father, laying it at my dad's feet...

At that point, I completely unlearnt my dread of cats and realized that, like cats, any other animal is innocent.

It could be possessed by a which also people are scared of it spitting into ones eyes - Samuel Udoh

Because we Africans believe  they are witches especially when u see them at night - Anonymous 

 ALWAYS, in history, patriarchy was what dictated everything, and much more about women, obviously. Unfortunately that still exists. 

Anyway, what I want to say is that it relates to that. Witches were women with a lot of knowledge about everything, not just about nature. In many cases, they were women who knew more than the rest of the population and more than what men knew, since they had a special intuition. These women were also people who defended themselves, they were fighting women. To the men of the time, that bothered them, because it always bothered them that it was a woman, that they wanted to make them look "weak", had so much knowledge. Because of that, the men burned them alive, with a lie that they were cursed witches. That they did bad things. That was not so. These men looked for any excuse that, the people (that was very easy to convince), saw them badly. Thats the reality. Hatred towards women Why? Because if sorcerers had only been men, and had had cats, probably nowadays, certain cultures, they would see cats, as a sign of power, and not of something bad, because men would never have spoken badly of themselves. It is the law of patriarchy, it happens today as well, and many of the concepts that people have, are based on that. That is why it is always important not to take ANYTHING of what they taught us, as real and unique.

 Since women were named in this way, as if they did evil things (when in reality they were only women who did not like control over them and were healers), because they could not control them, they were delegitimized. And they had cats just because they are beautiful  but that made them link them with the mysterious and evil, that is why people started to believe in fact that EVERYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH A WOMAN is bad. Not only cats at that time. But rebel women too, women with knowledge, women who wear certain clothes. The background is huge. Then there you understand that fear was not generated because a cat IS A CAT. But because the cat was one of the "elements" around the women of that time, that people named as evil, not understanding why they were like that. So ... if the story had been different, it is very likely that there was not even superstition against cats. Interesting, right? - Victoria (Argentina)

 Cats have been regarded as a point of contact to supreme advocates, But when I was young it wasn't like that

You don't find them everywhere,and it was a pet in the diaspora in Akoka that I grew up in, They are now in people's roofs and they are scared  but can't  even move out!!! - Bala

Lol...I guess its cos cats are synonymous with witches. Even oyinbo winch sef dey use cat. - Idorenyin

Some people just think that cats are not good to keep at home, Cats are scary, cats are scary, those are the excuses some people use - Anonymous 

It been caused by the yoruba films we have been watching when we are a little bit young example "olongbo iya agba" (The Old woman's Pussycat) so many films like that which I can't remember. Those are the things that makes our perception about cat to be wild - Anonymous 

OK ...i think or rather I know with personal experience that most Africans  are afraid of cats because cats are known to be companions of witches/wizards . Cats are easily used for dark magic and all.

That aside.. Their sleek nature scares Africans cos they feel they're sneaky and always up to some mischief - Olasubomi

 I don't think Africans are scared of Cats as such... There are quite many people who keep them as pets... I know at least two friends who rears them... One a Conc' Muslim, another a Traditionalist... It's just a matter of perspective perhaps...and misconception from various media. Of course, in many cultures cats are symbolic...of ties to the Spiritual realm and all...(just as dogs are too in some spheres)... I do think the eyes though...are part of what gives that fear factor- "Ẹ̀dá Dúdú"

Well for as long as i have remembered, cats have been connected to 'witchcraft'and the supernatural. In Egypt, cats are sacred to a certain god. I have forgotten the name. Bast, i think. In many other cultures, both African and non-African, its the same - Anonymous 

We Nigerians  think most cats are either  messengers from an evil force or the evil force them self - Sinach 

Yes. Cause them don to use am act plenty witch film! - Uzor

They believe that's what winches changes into to operate I won't even blame them..... Home video also caused it, cause I remember back then when they act their occultic movies Cats are always used for the winches there - Ubong

Never got scared of cats because I eat them Raw - Shinene 

I think most Africans are afraid of Cats due to how it appears to them, When I see them i just shout blood of Jesus then it disappears,Cos most time they might be sent People are scared because 

Mostly at night their eyes shine like light. - Morenikeji 

It been caused by the yoruba films we have been watching when we are a little bit young example "olongbo iya agba" so many films like that which I can't remember. Those are the things that makes our perception about cat to be wild... I do watch American films about cat too... they will never make us feel cat is bad... example Garfield - Anuoluwapo

We actually were taught indirectly to be scared of cats. 

There are different kind of learning; the direct and indirectly learning. 

Why i choose to say "we being afraid of cats"was learnt  indirectly.

We learnt to be scared of cats  from our movies (old movies) and word of mouth ( stories - mostly false). We didn't know they had an impact in out lives but subconsciously when we see a cat... our mind captures those cat moments that we've seen and heard, which has always been about how they've been used in a bad way. 

My experience: we moved into a new apartment sometime this year. The day we moved, one of our neighbor saw a cat that night and the next thing she said was that we don carry cat come house say if anything happens to her say na we cause am o

Unless we are accustomed to a different type of movies or probably we don't move with people who speak about cats in a bad way, we might never be scared of cats. 

Unless it's just a natural fear of animals - Chigozie 

Because we were told from childhood that they are another means of craft, "Winshcraft".. 

And the way they look lasan you would just be thinking if you are related - Deji

©Sunday Ozegbe Obiajulu (Valu) 2019

Sunday Ozegbe (Valu)
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