SHED TOOTH RITUALS
Losing baby teeth is one of the earliest and most anticipated rites of passage for a young child. In the western part of the world, it often involves a visit from the tooth fairy. But just how old is the tradition, and what came before it?
Anthropologists and folklorists call the traditions that accompany the loss of baby teeth “shed tooth rituals”. Such rituals have varied widely from one place to another and from one time to another.
ENSURING CHILDRENS TEETH WERE STRONG!
Every human culture has such rituals, and many have a feature in common: whatever is done with the baby tooth is done in the belief that it will protect the child from harm or ensure that a strong, healthy permanent tooth grows in to replace the old tooth.
For centuries in Europe, it was common practice to “plant” baby teeth in the ground as if they were seeds. Doing so was thought to encourage the growth of the new tooth. Planting the tooth also kept it from falling into the hands of a witch, who could use it to cast spells on the child who lost it. (If there was any question as to whether the tooth had already been bewitched, throwing it into a fire destroyed the tooth and broke the spell.)
THE FIRST TOOTH FAIRY WAS A MOUSE
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to have lived in a place that has been infested with mice, you’ve probably noticed that the pests can chew through just about anything, even wood. This did not go unnoticed in generations past, when homes had dirt floors and rodent infestations were a part of daily life.
In those days most people were all but toothless by the time they reached their 40s. Mice, by comparison, never lose their teeth because their teeth never stop growing. Perhaps it was inevitable that toothless humans would come to associate mice with strong teeth, and begin to offer their children’s baby teeth as “gifts” to mice in the hope that some of the toughness of their teeth would transfer back to the child.
Anthropologists call this “sympathetic magic.” In some places the parent or child would give the baby tooth to the mouse by throwing it out the window. In other places by tossing it over a shoulder, under the bed, onto the roof, into the yard, or left it as an offering next to a mouse hole somewhere in the house. No matter the local custom it was usually accompanied by saying the phrase “mouse mouse here is a tooth Now give me another one”.
FRANCE IS MOST LIKELY TO BLAME!
Folklorists believe that France is the place where this tradition evolved into “trading” the baby tooth not for a healthy permanent tooth but rather for money or a small gift. When a child lost a tooth, they placed it in their slipper or shoe and left it out overnight.
While the child slept, le petit souris (the little mouse) would come and take the tooth away and leave a coin in its place. Eventually a barter system developed wherein a sleeping youngster could trade a tooth for candy, not with a mouse but with a fairy.
THE MODERN TOOTH FAIRY IS AMERICAN MADE!
By the early 1900s, the tradition of exchanging baby teeth for money or gifts had spread to the United States, where children began to put their teeth under their pillow instead of in a shoe. Rather than give it to a mouse or to a random good fairy, children began to give it to one fairy in particular: the tooth fairy.
It’s not known precisely when or where in the United States the tooth fairy made its first appearance, but by the time the first story featuring the tooth fairy appeared in print in 1927, the tradition is believed to have become quite widespread.
OK, NOW YOU KNOW...
...... the origins of the tooth fairy. If you’d like to know the weirdest shed tooth rituals practiced by children from around the world you can find out in one of the most recent post at unusuallyinteresting.com
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The Original Tooth Fairy
