Seventh son of a seventh son

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The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from folklore regarding special powers given to, or held by, such a son. The number seven has a long history of mystical and religious associations: seven sleepers, seven-league boots, seven ages of man, seven hills of Rome, seven lucky gods of Japanese mythology, the Seven Sages, seven sisters, seven stars, seven wonders of the world, and so on. In this case, it refers to a man who is the seventh son of a man who is himself a seventh son. No specification is made as to whether intervening daughters break the charm.

In some beliefs, the special powers are inborn, inherited simply by virtue of his birth order; in others the powers are granted to him by God or gods because of his birth order.

Contents 1 Regional variations 1.1 Native American 1.2 Ireland 1.3 France 1.4 Germany 1.5 Latin America 1.6 Eastern Europe 2 Pop culture references 2.1 Music 2.2 Television 2.3 Literature 2.4 Other 3 Real-life seventh sons of seventh sons 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Regional variations

[edit] Native American

Cherokee Indians of the southeastern United States believe that the seventh son is a natural-born prophet with the gift of healing by touch. One such man lived in the outskirts of Montreal in the country town of Saint-Isidore. He was half Native American and was capable of stopping bleeding through some unseen force. In one instance chickens were being bled for harvesting. As a demonstration, he stopped the bleeding of one of the chickens by looking at it, and the bloodflow stopped immediately even though the jugular was open. Only after a wave of his hand did the bleeding resume.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ireland

The seventh son of a seventh son is gifted as a healer and is believed to possess prophetic gifts as well.^[1]

[edit] France

The Journal de Loiret, a French provincial newspaper, in 1854 stated that, in Orleans, if a family has seven sons and no daughter, the seventh is called a Marcou, is branded with a fleur-de-lis, and is believed to possess the power of curing the king's evil.^[2]

[edit] Germany

In some areas of Germany there used to be a custom for the reigning prince to stand sponsor to a seventh son (with no intervening daughter) of any of his subjects.^[3]. The king could not refuse, even if the child was of the poorest class.^[4]

[edit] Latin America

A superstition in Portugal and later in Brazil holds that the seventh son, or the seventh son of a seventh son, will be born a werewolf.^[5]

[edit] Eastern Europe

The seventh son of a seventh son will be a vampire.

[edit] Pop culture references

[edit] Music

• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (song and album), Iron Maiden
• "Love is Stronger than Justice", Sting
• "Ball And Biscuit," The White Stripes
• "Seventh son of a seventh son," Rory Gallagher
• "Hoot Mon," Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (from the 1952 film "Road To Bali")
• "Highway 61" Bob Dylan
• "Raoul And The Kings Of Spain" Tears For Fears

[edit] Television

• In the Twilight Zone episode entitled "Still Valley", the character Paradine receives a book of witchcraft from an old man claiming to be the seventh son of a seventh son as was the old man's father.

• In the WB television series Charmed, for the episode That Old Black Magic in which the Seventh Son is called The Chosen One.

[edit] Literature

• In the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, magical properties are attributed to the number eight rather than seven. Traditionally on the Discworld, an eighth son of an eighth son becomes a wizard. The eighth son of such a wizard would become a Sourcerer.
• In Susan Cooper's Arthurian fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising, the main protagonist Will Stanton is the seventh son of a seventh son.
• Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy
• Orson Scott Card's novel series The Tales of Alvin Maker (Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son).
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison has a character named Wheatstraw who is the seventh son of a seventh son
• In the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, Septimus Heap is the seventh son of a seventh son, and as such is an extremely gifted wizard.

[edit] Other

• Seventh Son Virus - a computer virus affecting COM files, the words "seventh son of a seventh son" appear in infected files^[6]

[edit] Real-life seventh sons of seventh sons

• Malcolm X^{[citation needed]}
• Perry Como, 20th century American crooner^{[citation needed]}
• Gordon Smith, author of Spirit Messenger^{[citation needed]}
• Aidan Wrynne, faith healer^{[citation needed]}
• Danny Gallagher, faith healer^{[citation needed]}
• King David^{[citation needed]}
• John Ignatius Armstrong, Australian politician^{[citation needed]}
• Geezer Butler, Black Sabbath Bass player.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Chambers' Book of Days
2. ^ Chambers' Book of Days
3. ^ Chambers' Book of Days
4. ^ Blavatasky, "The number seven"
5. ^ What is a werewolf?
6. ^ Seventh son virus

[edit] References

• Parman, Susan. "Curing Beliefs and Practices in the Outer Hebrides." Folklore, Vol. 88, No. 1 (1977), pp. 107-109.

[edit] External links

• Seventh Sons and Their Seventh Sons: A passage from Chambers' Book of Days with information about the belief in Britain, France, and Germany.