Unlucky 11 – Zimbabwe | Dartmouth Folklore Archive

Title: Unlucky 11 – The Cursed Month

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Louis Murerwa grew up in Gweru , Zimbabwe with his parents. He did his high school in Gweru. He used to visit his grandparents in the rural areas twice or thrice a year while growing up. He moved to Hanover for college in 2017.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Month and days of the week are associated with their position in the cycle. Eleven is associated with November.
Social Context: People do not marry or have a wedding in November. Zimbabweans believe if you get married in November you will have bad luck in the married and it usually leads to a divorce. They also believe you might not have a child or one of your children will die. Every person knows about the bad luck that come with November through the fairy tales they are told while growing up. Louis knew about the curse while he was still in elementary school.

Item:

Eleven is an unlucky number because it represents the month of November. Marriages or weddings that happen in November are believed to be cursed. Because of the association of November with eleven, eleven is regarded as an unlucky number in the society. No weddings happen in November these days leading to December being a popular wedding month.

Informant’s Comments:

Collector’s Name: Taringana Guranungo

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