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About us ...
We live on a farm in a peaceful rural area North of Auckland, New Zealand, where we raise and fatten beef cattle and lambs.
I have always been fond of animals, especially cats, my interest in Birmans goes back a long way.....
I first joined and registered my prefix Hilight with the New Zealand Cat Fancy in 19 71, and imported my first Birman ( Sacrebel Theebaw)
as there were no Birmans available in NZ, at that time worldwide they were rare.
I later obtained some more, and so it all began....
Sacrebel Theebaw 1971
The Birman Cat Legend ....
There is a intriguing legend that surrounds the Birman
Many years ago
in Ancient Burma in the magnificent temple of Lao-Tsun , there was a beautiful Golden goddess Tsun-Kyan-Kse who had gorgeous blue sapphire eyes .
She presided over the transmutation of souls
It was also the home of 100 pure white Temple cats with golden eyes, which were kept as pets and companions of the priests
The high priest Mun-Ha had his own cat called Sinh, which was very special to him, his faithful cat was always by his side when Mun-Ha went to prayer, Sinh was also a respected oracle of the temple
One night just as the moon was rising the High Priest Mun-Ha was kneeling and praying in front of the golden goddess
His devoted cat Sinh by his side as always, when suddenly the unexpected happened , the Temple was invaded by raiders
The High Priest was mortally wounded, as he lay dying his faithful cat shocked and dismayed tried to comfort his beloved master and a strange transformation took place where his paws touched
the priest they turned snow white a symbol of purity and devotion and his legs face and tail changed to shades of earth,the Birman temple cat's eyes turned from yellow to sapphire blue like the blue eyes of the beautiful Goddess and his coat shone with a gold tinge reflected from the golden Idol
The moment the High Priest passed away another miracle took place
Mun-Ha's soul transmigrated to his divine cat.
For 7 days Sinh the Birman Cat sat in front of the Goddess he refused to eat or drink , then sadly he also died, and accompanied the soul of his beloved master to paradise
Seven days later the priests gathered in front of the Goddess to decide who would be the successor of Mun-Ha, then a most amazing thing happened
All the cats of the temple walked in and surrounded the youngest priest ,which indicated the will of the goddess and it was discovered that like Sinh, the same transformation of colour had taken place with all of them,, thus the youngest priest was chosen
And from that time forth the Birman cats became sacred, the belief being that the souls of their priests transmigrate to these beautiful Sacred cats
To this day throughout the world the Birman Cat is known as the Sacred Cat of Burma
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