Why did the Egyptians worship cats and the Chinese eat them?

Question

I'm only interested in the opinions of people who are of Chinese or Egyptian/Middle Eastern backgrounds, or have a thorough knowledge of these cultures. Thank you

Answer 1

I can`t tell about the Egyptians, but I do know about the Chinese! Actually, its not all China that eats cat, its mainly the cantonese (south of China), that began the tradition. Cat is eaten as a stew, since the beginning of the century. During that period, China was at war with Japan, and the Japanese were rationing all the food, and barely kept the Chinese native alive, so to survived, they begin to eat about every conceivable animals they could fall upon! This include tortoise, turtles, dove, pigeons and you guess it cat.
Its good to belong to a religion, but religion don`t make you eat!! So since then, they eat cat...

Answer 2

chinese people dont really see cats as sacred animals. and some people would just eat any animal just to see how it tastes like. the only situation that i can think of superstitious cat role is the lucky cat. the story behind that is that a guy saw a cat waving one hand and he went up to it. right when he went up to the cat, a lightning bolt struck the place he was standing. and this was a clear sunny day. thats why people believe that one cat was lucky. egyptians believe cats ward off demons, thats why they worship it. another reason was becase they were descendant of some god or something.

Answer 3

I am sorry to say the you have been mis-informed..... The Chinese had a great deal of respect for cats.... But during the times of civil wars or WW-II when food was scarce all animals were fair game to be stewed....... You are confusing the situation to where the time really called for people doing some strange things in-order to survive day by day......... Now there are countries that specializes in cooking dogs and rats and cats.... But those things came about because of some very hard times in the past....... Those things also happen in American when food was scarce and during times of war......................... And believe this or not even in times of plenty Cannibalism is still going on more then our news media cares to admit.......... Right here is home town U.S.A....................................................

Answer 4

there is no connection between those two cultures besides the feline factor.
the ancient egyptians worshipped cats because they represented the goddess bastet and mummifying them was part of her cult.
the chinese eat cats because they eat many creatures. probably most creatures. it's their culture. they dont have the hangups people in the west have about eating certain things.

Answer 5

No, the ancient Egyptians did not worship cats -- this is a rumor spread by the ancient Greeks! But they did like to have cats as pets and as hunting animals, and they did worship a cat-headed goddess called Bastet. So, in ancient Egypt, cats were regarded as pretty special.




The cat, associated with the moon, was sacred to the cat-goddess Bast or Pasht, and to kill one was to court death. The Egyptian word for cat is mau, meaning to see, and both the moon and the cat were seers by night. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, so the cat was supposed to reflect the moon on account of its phosphorescent eyes. In the form of the goddess Bast the cat keeps watch for the sun, with her paw holding down and bruising the head of the serpent of darkness, the sun's eternal enemy. In Chapter XVII of the Book of the Dead, "The male cat is Ra himself, and he is called 'Mau'" (Seer), while the illustrations represent him in action similar to Bast. The chief-priest of Amen-Ra was called "Oiru mau," Master of Visions, he who beheld God "face to face."

Answer 6

i know chinese eats almost anything coz they don't have hang ups about they food they eat. when you are starving , anything that has protein will appeal. there was a movie made about eating cockcroaches in a jail. also a movie about cannibalism.

Answer 7

EWWWWW i didnt know chinese ppl eat cats!!!!!!! EWWWW....EWWW.EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW..........nasty i knew they ate mostly everything on eat but cats! thats sick!!!!!! and i have no answer for the question xP

Answer 8

I've heard they also eat dogs.