by Prince

Today is our vacation. We will celebrate the cat festival, a day dedicated to us who have won the hearts of millions of kind and loving people. But did you know that this festival is linked to our specialities?

Are you ready? Now I begin to tell you when, where, how and by whom this day, February 17th, was given.

World Cat Day, celebrated on February 17, was first adopted in Italy in 1990. The Italian journalist Claudia Angeletti conducted a survey among her readers in our magazine called “Tuttogatto  (All cats)”. The winner was Oriella Del Col’s February 17 offer.

Of course, it was specially chosen with this date in mind. First of all, February is very similar to our free and independent witty character. Because it is the moon of Aquarius. In other words, it is the symbol of an era dominated by Uranus, the protector of free and unconventional spirits.

As for the number 17, we know that the Roman numeral seventeen (XVII) has the anagram “VIXI”, which in Latin means “I have lived”. And it is said that we cats have seven lives. It is true! The choice of 17 is also linked to a belief in Scandinavian countries where 17 is a good luck number which means “to live a life seven times”. But we think that our mother Oriella chose this very day to break the belief that “number 17 is unlucky”.

Wondering why?

Princess Vanessa wrote our story. First of all, you need to reread that article to understand how precious, powerful, special and sacred we are. But here I would like to give two examples for now.

The fact that we have more than one cat day is another proof of how special we are. For example, Cat Day is celebrated on October 29 in the United States, March 1 in Russia, and August 8 in some countries. Many countries in Europe celebrate February 17th as the day of the cat.

The City of Cats is back this year as well, the festival dedicated to the feline culture that unfolds through exhibitions, concerts, reviews and themed meetings. The protagonist of this edition is Puss in Boots, the heroic kitty protagonist of the well-known fable celebrated with an exhibition set up at WOW Spazio Comics – Museum of Comics in Milan (Viale Campania 12) with original tables by masters such as Dino Battaglia, Guido Crepax, Fabio Visintin and Luca Salvagno (author of the Manifesto) who have lent their imagination and their pencils to this extraordinary character. But that’s not all: the Miao Concerto (February 19) is also scheduled with music by Rossini, Mozart and Ravel plus a precious “unreleased” Disney animated novel from 1922 with the live soundtrack. Also scheduled are meetings to find out how much the cat is present in our lives and in our culture, workshops for children and a series of solidarity aperitifs at the Crazy Cat Cafè in via Napo Torriani during which some Milanese cartoonists will talk about their work and their relationship with cats.

Numerous associations present in Lombardy are active in the protection of cats. Enpa Monza e Brianza celebrates the anniversary with a meeting scheduled for Friday 18 February dedicated to “grandfather kitty” or the senior cat, with expert advice to tackle some typical problems of the feline third age. The meeting will take place at 9 pm both face to face and live online (all information on www.enpamonza.it). For the Cat festival, the Mondogatto non-profit organization in Milan (which has been taking care of less fortunate cats in the city and neighbouring areas since 1985) is promoting a special evening of pampering in the refuge (booking required to participate, information on the website www.mondogatto). org).