Cat Superstitions Around the World
Same animal, opposite omens. What a black cat means depends entirely on where you're standing.
Britain and Japan
A black cat crossing your path is good luck — and in Japan, a black cat is thought to ward off evil spirits and bring suitors to single women.
Much of Europe and America
Medieval associations with witchcraft flipped the same animal into a bad omen, a superstition that still costs black cats adoptions today.
Russia and the sea
Sailors kept cats for luck as well as rodent control; a ship's cat with extra toes was considered especially lucky in rough weather.
Egypt, then and now
The oldest layer of all: cats as protectors, not omens — the tradition BAST: Nine Lives draws from.
In the game
BAST: Nine Lives takes this history literally: you play the black cat of the temple, racing three Heralds to the anchor-shrines while the serpent Apep — the same chaos-serpent the great cat kills in the Book of the Dead — strains at his chains beneath the sand.
Keep Reading
You've read the codex. Now live it.
▶ PLAY AS THE BLACK CAT — BAST: NINE LIVESFree in your browser · 7 worlds · 63 levels · no install