Lucky 4 (Zimbabwe)

Title: Lucky 4 in Zimbabwean Culture

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Loveridge Bere is a Dartmouth senior who year grew up and attended schools in Masvingo, Harare and Bulawayo , Zimbabwe. His hometown is Masvingo where his parents’ home is. He moved to Hanover for his college studies in 2014.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Month and days of the week are associated with their position in the cycle. For the days of the week, four is associated with Thursday, as Monday is seen as the first day of the week.This day is traditional called “Chisi” and is enforced by rulers. Zimbabwean traditional culture respects rulers and disobeying rulers results in bad omen.
Social Context: On Thursday, people in the rural areas do not go to work in their fields. The day is reserved for resting and it is a day that is traditionally dedicated to the chief of the village. People would sometime go and work in the chief’s fields to help him with his crops and at the end of the day people would have beer and fields and strengthen their community through the interactions.

Item:

On the fourth day of the week, Thursday, people rest from their work in the field. Children grow up looking to the day they do not have to labor in the fields leading to Thursday being their favorite day. As they grow up to be adults they still enjoy this day and in the end, four becomes a lucky number because of its association with Thursday. In some children’s games, four is seen as a new stage and is given special privileges.

Collector’s Name: Taringana Guranungo

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Dartmouth Folklore Archive