As the year gets longer and days get shorter, we all look forward to the holidays. In celebration of the spooky month of October and Halloween, we thought we’d tell you about another famous old rug. This one is not just ancient, it’s rumored to be haunted.
The Sacred Cat rug is another contender for the claim of World’s Oldest Rug. It is believed to be 2,400 years old. This rug was taken from a pyramid or other archeological site, almost certainly stolen by treasure hunters. When it came into the possession of the last owner, Abraham S. Mussallem, it was wrapped around a mummified foot. If that’s not creepy enough, this rug was woven entirely from cat hair.
The ancient Egyptians viewed cats as sacred, and the penalties for injuring or killing a cat were severe, including being put to death. As an agrarian society, Egypt revered cats for their ability to control the vermin like mice and rats or poisonous snakes that often threatened their grain stores. To these Egyptians, cats were magical and could bring good luck. Some Egyptians dressed their cats in jewels and even mummified them when they died. Imagine the number of cats and the amount of cat hair that would have to be collected to weave an entire rug from it.
Today the Sacred Cat Rug can be viewed in Villa Zorayda Museum in St. Augustine, Florida, along with the mummified (and jewel encrusted) foot it came with. Is the foot a warning? Legend has it that anyone who sets foot on this rug carelessly will die soon afterwards. It’s rumored that, during the rug’s last restoration, a dead cat was found on the front steps of the museum. Fortunately for all of us and the rug’s longevity, the rug is now kept safely behind glass on the second floor of the museum.
It’s unlikely that any of the area rugs in your house are haunted, and that’s a good thing! However, if any of your rugs need restoration or rebinding, Bond Products has everything anyone would need for the job – except perhaps for cat-hair Instabind. If your rug is woven from the cat hair of ancient Egyptian cats, you may be out of luck if you want a binding made of the same material. For everyone else looking for the binding equipment, rug fringe, thread, or Instabind necessary to turn a horror of a rug into a beauty, contact us today. We’d love to help.
