section_path: Interaction with humans/Superstitions and rituals
section_name: Superstitions and rituals
paragraph_text: Superstitions and rituals
  
  Many cultures have negative superstitions about cats. An example would be the belief that encountering a black cat ("crossing one's path") leads to bad luck, or that cats are witches' familiars used to augment a witch's powers and skills. The killing of cats in Medieval Ypres, Belgium, is commemorated in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade). In mid-16th century France, cats would allegedly be burnt alive as a form of entertainment, particularly during midsummer festivals. According to Norman Davies, the assembled people "shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized ". The remaining ashes were sometimes taken back home by the people for good luck.
  
  According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in Italy, Germany, Greece, Brazil and some Spanish-speaking regions, they are said to have seven lives, while in Arabic traditions, the number of lives is six. An early mention of the myth can be found in John Heywood 's The Proverbs of John Heywood (1546):
  
  Husband, (quoth she), ye studie, be merrie now, And even as ye thinke now, so come to yow. Nay not so, (quoth he), for my thought to tell right, I thinke how you lay groning, wife, all last night. Husband, a groning horse and a groning wife Never faile their master, (quoth she), for my life. No wife, a woman hath nine lives like a cat.
  
  The myth is attributed to the natural suppleness and swiftness cats exhibit to escape life-threatening situations. Also lending credence to this myth is the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Nonetheless, cats can still be injured or killed by a high fall.