Ancient Burial Rituals

One superstition for which there is much material evidence was that if the body of a cat was built into a house wall, it would keep away rodents.

This belief survived as late as the 18th century, and the dried, mummified corpses of cats have been found in many buildings in Europe.

In Thailand, the ritual burial of cats is based on religious creeds in the ancient manuscript scrolls, known as the Cat Book Poems. They state that when a man of great spiritual advancement dies, his soul enters the body of a cat, and then ascends to heaven on the death of the animal.

At one time, this belief was part of the ritual burial of members of the Thai royal family, when a live cat was left in the tomb. There was a small hole in the tomb's roof, and when the cat emerged from it the monks knew that the departed soul had passed into the body of the cat.

This Thai ceremony, like all the other rituals mentioned here, is no longer performed. However, it seems that cat-based superstitions are still a large part of many cultures, and such old prejudices, especially against the black cat, die hard. In truth, cats are harmless animals - unless you happen to be a mouse.