Seventh son of a seventh son

Last updated

The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from folklore regarding special powers given to, or held by, such a son. To qualify as "the seventh son of a seventh son" one must be the seventh male child born in an unbroken line with no female siblings born between, and to a father who himself is the seventh male child born in an unbroken line with no female siblings born between. [1] The number seven has a long history of mystical and biblical significance, such as seven virtues, seven deadly sins, Seven Sleepers and Seven Heavens.

Contents

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 the gods because of his birth order.

In many cases seventh sons (who are not born to a seventh son) are also said to have supernatural or healing abilities. [2]

Regional variations

England

In Lancashire and particularly in Blackburn there was, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a tradition of calling seventh sons of seventh sons (and seventh sons) 'Doctor' (forename) because of their supposed abilities as healers. [3]

Ireland

The seventh son of a seventh son is gifted as a healer. The seventh son of a seventh son is part of a more general phenomenon known as the "cure" (sometimes also called the "charm"). [4] Belief in the efficacy of seventh son healers and other folklore related to healing persisted to the 20th century in parts of Ireland. [5]

Italy

In a legend of Montenero di Bisaccia, "Ciarallo" was a seventh son who had the power to enchant and recall snakes, and who was immune to snake venom. Ciarallo was not only a seventh son, but underwent a special initiation rite called "inciaramazione". Customarily, one would ask Ciarallo's intercession when a snake was discovered in the house. Ciarallo would answer these requests by attracting the snake with a whistle. He would also perform the inciaramazione rite on other people to ensure protection from snakes by spreading a special oil on their arm. Children were led to Ciarallo by their mothers to get protection. [6]

Latin America

In some Latin American countries, the seventh son of a seventh son is believed to be cursed to be a werewolf, lobizón, Luison (in Paraguay) or lobisomem (the Portuguese word for "werewolf"). To prevent this, the newborn should be baptized in seven different churches. Alternately, he may be baptized under the name Benito, with his eldest brother (the eldest son of their father) as his godfather. The local myth of the lobizón is not connected to the custom that began over 100 years ago by which every seventh son (or seventh daughter) born in Argentina to "legitimately married parents of good conduct and moral character" is eligible to become godchild to the president. [7]

Romania

Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu describe the Transylvanian folk belief that "the seventh son of a seventh son is doomed to become a vampire." [8]

United States

According to Edward Augustus Kendall in Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, in the year 1807–1808, while he visited the Newgate copper mine and prison, he met an innkeeper who told him that "there was to be found in the surrounding hills, a black stone, of a certain species, through which a seventh son of a seventh son, born in the month of February, with a caul on his head, can discern everything that lies in the depths and interior of the globe." The author speculated that the importance of mining to the community gave rise to the localized belief. [9] [10]

Alleged real-life examples

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampire</span> Undead creature from folklore

A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods which they inhabited while they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Vampiric entities have been recorded in cultures around the world; the term vampire was popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century mass hysteria of a pre-existing folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Southeastern Europe were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania, cognate to Italian 'Strega', meaning Witch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werewolf</span> Mythological human with acquired ability to transform into a wolflike creature

In folklore, a werewolf, or occasionally lycanthrope, is an individual who can shape-shift into a wolf, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction, with the transformations occurring on the night of a full moon. Early sources for belief in this ability or affliction, called lycanthropy, are Petronius (27–66) and Gervase of Tilbury (1150–1228).

<i>The Tomb of Dracula</i> American comic book series by Marvel Comics

The Tomb of Dracula is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare occasions, Dracula would work with these vampire hunters against a common threat or battle other supernatural threats on his own, but more often than not, he was the antagonist rather than protagonist. In addition to his supernatural battles in this series, Marvel's Dracula often served as a supervillain to other characters in the Marvel Universe, battling the likes of Blade the Vampire Slayer, Spider-Man, the Werewolf, the X-Men, Howard the Duck, and the licensed Robert E. Howard character Solomon Kane.

<i>Seventh Son</i> (novel) 1987 novel by Orson Scott Card

Seventh Son (1987) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the first book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Seventh Son won a Locus Award and was nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards in 1988. Seventh sons have strong "knacks", and seventh sons of seventh sons are both extraordinarily rare and powerful. In fact, young Alvin appears to be the only one in the world. His abilities make him the target of the Unmaker, who recognizes Alvin's powers as those of a Maker, only the second ever, and it had been a long time since the first had walked on water and turned water to wine. The Unmaker works largely by water and tries to kill Alvin in his early years before he can master his abilities.

Georgian mythology refers to the mythology of pre-Christian Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. The mythology of the Kartvelian peoples is believed by many scholars to have formed part of the religions of the kingdoms of Diauehi, Colchis and Iberia.

Vampires are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The concept of the Vampire has been depicted by Marvel to varying degrees of significance. Bearing a strong resemblance to their literary counterparts, Marvel vampires are mostly an undead subspecies of humans that sustain their immortality and paranormal power by drinking the blood of living humans. Unlike most other depictions of the creature, these vampires have their roots in both the supernatural and biology. Victims are converted to vampirism via enzymes carried in the vampire's saliva, which cause reanimation once introduced into the bloodstream during feedings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korean folklore</span> Aspect of Korean culture

Stories and practices that are considered part of Korean folklore go back several thousand years. These tales derive from a variety of origins, including Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more recently Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werewolf by Night</span> Comics character

The Werewolf by Night is the name of two werewolves appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell, first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2. The second incarnation, Jake Gomez, first appeared in Werewolf by Night #1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werecat</span> Feline therianthropic creature

A werecat is an analog to "werewolf" for a feline therianthropic creature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vrykolakas</span> Vampiric undead creature in Greek folklore

A vrykolakas, also called vorvolakas or vourdoulakas, is a harmful undead creature in Greek folklore. It shares similarities with numerous other legendary creatures, but is generally equated with the vampire of the folklore of the neighbouring Slavic countries. While the two are very similar, a vrykolakas eats flesh, particularly livers, rather than drinking blood, which combined with other factors such as its appearance bring it more in line with the modern concept of a zombie or ghoul.

A moroi is a type of vampire or ghost in Romanian folklore. A female moroi is called a moroaică. In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grave to draw energy from the living.

<i>Monster Force</i> Television series

Monster Force is a 13-episode animated television series created in April 9, 1994 by Universal Cartoon Studios and Canadian studio Lacewood Productions. The story is set in approximately 2020 and centers on a group of teenagers who, with help of high tech weaponry, fight off against classic Universal Monsters and spiritual beings threatening humanity. Some of the crew have personal vendettas, while others fight for mankind out of a sense of altruism. The series aired in syndication alongside another Universal animated series, Exosquad. Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first seven episodes to DVD on September 15, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Fury's Howling Commandos</span> Comic book series published by Marvel Comics

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Running six issues before its cancellation and cover-dated December 2005 to May 2006, the series featured a fictional team set in the Marvel Universe, consisting of supernatural characters employed as a unit of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dracula (Marvel Comics)</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

Dracula is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is based on the vampire Count Dracula from the novel of the same name by author Bram Stoker. After the initial run of the series The Tomb of Dracula, the character has been depicted primarily as an antagonist to superheroes in the Marvel Universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolves at the Gate</span>

"Wolves at the Gate" is the third story arc that spreads from the twelfth to the fifteenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name. It is written by Drew Goddard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampire folklore by region</span>

Legends of vampires have existed for millennia; cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demonic entities and blood-drinking spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Central Europe, particularly Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, but can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or a living person being bitten by a vampire themselves. Belief in such legends became so rife that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires.

<i>Blood of Dracula</i> 1957 American film

Blood of Dracula is a 1957 American black-and-white horror film directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Sandra Harrison, Louise Lewis and Gail Ganley. It was co-written by Aben Kandel and Herman Cohen.

<i>Monster High: The Movie</i> 2022 live-action musical film

Monster High: The Movie is a 2022 musical fantasy film directed by Todd Holland, produced by the television division of Mattel and Brightlight Pictures, written by Jenny Jaffe, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland, and starring Miia Harris, Ceci Balagot, and Nayah Damasen and other cast members including Case Walker, Lina Lecompte, Justin Derickson, Jy Prishkulnik, Kyle Selig, Marci T. House, Scotch Ellis Loring, Lilah Fitzgerald, Nasiv Sall and Steve Valentine In the United States, it was released on both Paramount+ and Nickelodeon on October 6, 2022.

References

  1. Ten Thousand Wonderful Things, Edmund Fillingham King, p. 315.
  2. Young, Simon (2019). "What's Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire". Folklore. 130: 395-414 at 404-405.
  3. Young, Simon (2019). "What's Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire". Folklore. 130: 393–414.
  4. See A D Buckley 1980 'Unofficial healing in Ulster.' Ulster Folklife 26, 15–34
  5. Murphy, Anne; Kelleher, Cecily (1995). "Contemporary Health Practices in the Burren". Irish Journal of Psychology. 16: 38-51 at 43-44.
  6. "TRADIZIONI E MITI POPOLARI". Archived from the original on 2002-06-24. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  7. "No, Argentina's president did not adopt a Jewish child to stop him turning into a werewolf". TheGuardian.com . 29 December 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-06.
  8. McNally, Raymond T., 1931-2002, p. 121 (1979). In search of Dracula : a true history of Dracula and vampire legends. New English Library. OCLC   6588409.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. "Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut - Person Page 877". Holcombegenealogy.com. Retrieved 2014-06-13.
  10. Denis Larionov & Alexander Zhulin. "Travels through the northern parts of the United States, in the year 1807 and 1808 (Volume 2) by Edward Augustus Kendall". Ebooksread.com. p. 12. Retrieved 2014-06-13.
  11. Morrison, Arthur (1900). "A Wizard of Yesterday". The Strand Magazine. 20: 433.
  12. "Indian Healer Returns Home" (PDF). The Massena Observer. Massena, St. Lawrence County, New York. March 20, 1930. Retrieved April 20, 2016 via NYS Historic Newspapers. Some have attributed the boy's miraculous power to his descendancy. He is the seventh son of a seventh son and from this circumstance is believed to have been endowed with a sort of sixth sense.
  13. "Abram George: Mohawk Fatih Healer (United States, 1916?". Boys' Historical Clothing.
  14. Bonaparte, Darren. "The Healing Powers of the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". reprint from The People's Voice, October 21, 2005
  15. Gervais, Marty (2012). Ghost Road: and other forgotten stories of Windsor. Windsor: Biblioasis. pp. 85–87. ISBN   978-1-926845-88-3.
  16. Macfarlane, Malcolm; Crossland, Ken (June 13, 2009). Perry Como: A Biography and Complete Career Record. McFarland & Company. pp. 8–9. ISBN   9780786437016. Perry usually shrugged off the idea that he had any special gifts because of it, although he never denied its veracity, despite knowing full well that he had only one elder brother.
  17. "ESPN Sportsnation chat". Archived from the original on January 24, 2013.
  18. "The Ivor Powell Interview". The Vale Park Beano. 64.