Sunday, April 24, 2011

Here Kitty Kitty

Photo © MAK
Maneki Neko – you’ve seen them in many a restaurant. Welcoming Cat, Lucky Cat, Money Cat, or Fortune Cat, whichever it ain’t Chinese cat.  Supposedly from the later part of the Edo period in Japan, the earliest documented evidence of Maneki Neko comes from the 1870s.  These Japanese bob tails beckon with a paw or maybe even two.  Left to attract and right to protect. Then there are the colors: white for purity, positive things to come, gold for intense wealth and prosperity, black for good health and to ward off evil and a stalker, red - a protective color to keep away evil spirits and illness and for love, marriage and personal matters, pink for love, relationships and romance, and green sometimes for health or education or studies.  The calico is the luckiest cat of all, but supposedly a white Maneki Neko is a calico coming to life from under lazy hands that did not want to give it its tricolor spots, so take your pick if the whitey is the luckiest of all. Might be. Either way, they are SO cute! If I could just get my hands on a jade or real gold one! For that I need my ceramic gold kitty to work overtime. Here Kitty Kitty! Beckon!

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