Seven

The significance as well as the symbolic, mythological, mathematical, and esoteric meaning of the number 7 varies throughout Africa. In ancient Egyptian, the word for 7 is sefhet, or Seshat. Seshat is the feminine counterpart of Thoth. She is the mistress of measure and the passage of time. Her emblem is the flower with seven petals or leopard skin. She was a personal deity of the pharaoh and therefore was not worshipped by the populace. Seshat was invoked at the stretching of the cord ceremony, a ritual performed by the pharaoh during the laying of a temple's foundation. The association of the number 7 with wisdom comes with Seshat's title “Foremost of Libraries” and her role as guardian of her husband Thoth's books.

Among the Bambara and Dogon, 7 is the number of harmony. It signifies the harmony of the male or masculine, represented by the number 3, with the female or feminine, represented by the number 4. It has been suggested that the pyramid also embodies the harmony of 7 because it is a 4 (the square base) topped with a 3 (triangle). Among the Akan, the queen mother's number is 3 and the king's is 4, a different configuration, but still totaling 7. Also among the Akan, the number 7 is significant in divination because it is an odd number. The practice of attributing gender to numbers is found throughout Africa. Among Sudanic cultures, even numbers are feminine and masculine numbers are odd, such as the case among the Kolokuma Ijo people of the Niger Delta.

The number 7 is also central to Egyptian mathematics. The fundamental equation 1 + 2 + 4 = 7 reflects the Egyptian method of calculating based on continued doubling. Further, when 7 is multiplied by doubling, the first three multipliers are always 1, 2, and 4, which equals 7. These equations factor into the Egyptian table of length used to calculate pyramid measurements. Egyptian fractions are calculated by multiplying them by the number 7.

Although 7 is a conspicuous number in many cultures, it is also taboo. The Kolokuma Ijo associate the number 7 with the great divinities, so it is to be avoided. Among the Mandak and Ga, the avoidance of the number 7 is found in speech where 7 is referred to as 6 + 1. Among the Malinke people and the Mbundu-speaking people, the word for the number 8 is used in place of 7. In both languages, the word for 8 is six-two; so to say 7, one literally says six-two. Because 7 is taboo, the danger of speaking it can be divided between two speakers by one making the gesture of the number while the other speaks it. The Kikuyu use a non-number name for 7, mug-wanja, and people do not divide things in portions of seven nor do children travel in groups of seven. Seven curses can be evoked, each represented by seven sticks aimed at the victim. If seven items [Page 610]remain after the diviner's functions have been performed, it signals death. Among the Kamba, odd numbers are “without a companion” so children should avoid walking in odd-numbered groups, and catde are not to be watched by the same cowherd more than 6 days at a time. Farmers will place seven porcupine quills in the stalks of their sugarcane to protect them from thieves. However, Kamba circumcision festivities span 7 days, and cracking a whip seven times brings good fortune to elephant hunters.

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