Medieval Paintings of Cats Licking Their Own Butts

Medieval monks were put to work making illustrations for holy books in which every page was filled with beautiful works of art. Sometimes, they would fill the page with beautiful patterns of flowers and ivy. Sometimes, they would add depth to the words by illustrating the stories. And sometimes, they would just draw cats licking their butts. It’s weirdly common theme in medieval art, and nobody’s really sure why. The theory is that they were just etched in the margins by bored monks who wanted to amuse themselves. The monks would pass long, boring days scribbling pictures of these beautiful creatures taking care of their basic hygiene just to fight boredom of daily mundane life at the monastery.