The Tooth Fairy is one of the most popular characters in American folklore. A considerable part of children around the world sincerely believe in her, films and cartoons are made about her, she advertises dental services and hygiene products...
She is usually represented as a classic fairy - a little girl with wings, dressed in a beautiful dress. She flies to the children at night to pick up their lost baby teeth, and leaves a coin in their place.
Belief in the tooth fairy is believed to help children cope with the fear and anxiety caused by tooth loss. It also convinces them to be more attentive to their own health and hygiene - especially if you clarify that the fairy does not pay for rotten goods.
But why is she even doing this? Why does she need baby teeth? How much does she pay for them, and where does she even get the money?
A little about fairies
Although the tooth fairy seems like something fashionable and modern (especially to residents of the CIS countries, who learned about its existence only in the 90s), the roots of this myth go deep into history.
Spanish tooth mouse Pepper illustrated by Mariano Pedrero
Like many mythological characters, she came to America along with immigrants from Europe. Although the collector of children's teeth was not as popular there as overseas, especially when compared with ordinary fairies and elves, its analogues exist in almost all European countries and their former colonies.
In some places, instead of fairies, children are visited by angels or the souls of other children sent from heaven. However, in most cases, the role of the tooth fairy is played by mice. For example, in France these are just tooth mice, in Italy - Topolino, in Spain - the mouse Pepper. The latter also moved overseas and gained some popularity in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries.
If you look a little deeper into history, in the Scandinavian countries they paid for baby teeth... berserkers. Viking warriors considered such teeth to be a talisman that brought good luck in battle and sometimes made themselves entire necklaces from children's teeth. A reflection of this belief even made its way into the Eddas, where Tand-Fae is mentioned - a fairy who collects teeth. Which is the earliest description of the tooth fairy.
One hundred thousand why
Close
The time when baby teeth are replaced by permanent ones can be quite an exciting period in the lives of many children and their parents. The tooth fairy helps make it a little more fun and a little more magical.
Briefly about the fairy
The tooth fairy is a fictional character. In some ways she is similar to Father Frost or Santa. But this little girl has to work all year round. Its main purpose is to take baby teeth from children, leaving a coin or a small gift in return. The fairy has assistants - elves, who during the day look for children with loose teeth for her. The fairy herself sleeps during the day. After all, at night she will have to fly around all the children and leave them gifts. The fairy stores all the milk teeth collected from children in a special pantry. The storage space is not unlimited. It’s just that teeth periodically disappear from it. The elf helpers use them to make magnificent, elegant jewelry that the tooth fairy gives to her friends - other fairies.
Not much is known about the fairy's appearance. She is depicted as very beautiful, often wearing shimmering white robes. She always has a bag of magic dust with her, which she sprinkles on a child who is ready to wake up and disturb her. According to some reports, the tooth fairy's eyes are violet. Most likely, like all fairies, the tooth fairy can fly.
History of the character
Unlike many popular fairy tale characters, the author who gave the tooth fairy to children is famous. This is the Spanish writer Luis Coloma. In 1902, his book about the tooth fairy was first published. Interestingly, the work was created to order at the request of the Queen of Spain. At the time, her son, King Alfonso XIII, was only 8 years old and had lost his first baby tooth. Little Alfonso himself, the tooth fairy and the mouse Perez became the characters in the fairy tale. The fairy tale was so successful that its characters, especially the tooth fairy, became almost folklore characters.
Contents of the ritual
It is most often practiced when the very first baby tooth falls out, but if the child is too restless, there is nothing wrong with exchanging each tooth for a gift.
The child must place the lost tooth under the pillow with his own hands the night after the event. In the morning he will find a gift or money in this place. It is no longer known when one of the parents, who was almost caught during the operation of replacing a tooth with a gift, came up with another option for transferring the tooth to the fairy. You can put it in a glass of water and leave it on your bedside table. It’s much easier to remove a tooth this way than from under a pillow.
Why do we need the tooth fairy?
Child psychologists and educators generally have a positive view of the tooth fairy. After all, it is well known how much children love various mysterious rituals, and even more so, gifts. The loss of a baby tooth for a child is something associated with unpleasant new experiences, sometimes it can be painful. The sight of even a drop of one's own blood can plunge a child into a state of shock. A story about a magical tooth fairy, the expectation of a miracle and a gift will most likely distract the child from unpleasant experiences and make changing teeth a magical adventure.
Share on social media networks
I like
Related posts:
Why does the tooth fairy collect teeth?
A superstition associated with witchcraft stretches back from the Middle Ages - possessing someone else’s tooth can give power over the person to whom it belonged (therefore, especially superstitious inhabitants of the Dark Ages preferred to burn lost teeth rather than give them to a fairy, who was also considered by the church to be a lesser demon).
A not-so-kind version of the tooth fairy from Hellboy 2
This suggests a logical conclusion - for a small fee, tooth fairies gain power over a huge number of people. What some modern postmodernist creators recall - for example, Terry Pratchett in the book “Santa Hryakus”.
However, usually the tooth fairy is a positive character and does not use children’s teeth to gain world domination. You can often come across the version that she collects teeth in order to maintain children's faith in fairies. After all, if they stop believing in her, she will disappear. This option is described in the cartoon “Keepers of Dreams”.
A less popular, although also quite obvious reason is shown in the French cartoon about the French analogue of the tooth fairy “Ernest and Celestine” - mice collect teeth in order to build their underground cities with their help - their entire civilization literally stands on children’s teeth.
What does the tooth fairy like?
First, let's take a look at the directory of magical creatures and see who this mysterious tooth fairy is? Here we read:
“The tooth fairy is a magical creature from 8 to 10 cm in height; it moves long distances with the help of small wings similar to the wings of a dragonfly. She looks like a little girl with very white and healthy teeth, which is how she got her job. Well, the job of the tooth fairies is to keep track of which children have beautiful and healthy teeth and which ones don’t. If you hide a lost tooth under your pillow, the tooth fairy will take it away. And if she likes the tooth, she will leave money or something interesting as a gift. Tooth fairies have only one day off a year - Christmas, since work on this day is prohibited for them. If the tooth fairy takes a child's tooth at Christmas, she will be fired."
From the Handbook of Magical Creatures.
Once upon a time there lived Masha and Sasha. Mom and dad loved them very much and considered them the best children in the world. Masha and Sasha were smart and cheerful, they could always figure out what to do and how to have fun. Parents made sure that their children were clean and tidy, washed their hands, brushed their teeth in the morning and evening. They gave Masha and Sasha gifts, especially when the children behaved well and were not capricious.
Masha and Sasha had a friend Vitya. The guys were friends, walked on the street with Khrumka - that was the name of Vitya’s dog. They nicknamed her Khrumka because she loved everything crunchy, especially candy labels.
One day Vitya came to visit his friends and said: “Let’s go outside and buy ice cream, the tooth fairy brought me money.”
Masha and Sasha loved ice cream very much, but this time they didn’t think about it at all. They were thinking about who the tooth fairy was. They ate ice cream often, even a lot. But the tooth fairy has never been seen. But still they went with Vitya, although they ate the ice cream without interest. Then Masha asked: “How do you know that it was the tooth fairy who brought you the money, maybe your mom and dad put it in?”
To which Vitya replied: “Mom and dad told me that the tooth fairy takes pity on children whose healthy teeth fall out.” And leaves money or a gift for the tooth, which should be placed under the pillow. At night the fairy will take the tooth. That's what I did, I just lost one yesterday.
It must be said that Vitya, unlike Masha and Sasha, very rarely ate sweets. Vitya’s mom and dad are dentists; they really don’t like foods that are harmful to teeth. Vitya’s parents especially do not like ice cream (cold is harmful to teeth), sweets (especially lollipops - they are hard, you can break a tooth), fizzy lemonade (fizzes and ruins teeth), cakes and pastries (harmful not only for teeth, but also for everything else - you will be like a bun if you eat them often). Therefore, Vitya has healthy teeth and a correct bite (not a bite!).
And Masha and Sasha had, as their mother said, “a complete problem” with their teeth. Despite the fact that they brushed their teeth several times every day, they still remained not entirely healthy. More precisely, not healthy at all. “It’s all from sweets,” my mother lamented.
But the children could not help themselves, they loved sweets. But Vitya loved other foods: milk, cottage cheese, nuts, apples and pears, vegetables, salad and much more that small children usually do not like. But Vitya had real milk teeth - white. His parents always said: “Eat, these are very healthy foods for your teeth and health.” Needless to say, Masha and Sasha envied Vita. It's very interesting to receive a gift from a real fairy!
The excited children went home, and in order to take their minds off thoughts about fairies, Masha began gnawing on lollipops. One, two, three, when suddenly: - Oh, oh, oh! - she screamed. - My tooth is broken! Masha showed Sasha a lost tooth. “Now we can also put the tooth under the pillow and see what happens in the morning.”
That's what we decided. Masha really wanted to see what the tooth fairy looked like, but still she couldn’t wait for her to come - sleep came first.
When the children woke up in the morning, the first thing they did was turn over their pillow. But to their surprise, the tooth remained under it. And next to them they found a note that said: “Unfortunately, your tooth is very sick, so I can’t take it away - it gave me a headache!” The note was signed: "Star the Tooth Fairy."
The children were very upset. How to make the fairy take the tooth? And what do tooth fairies like? What tooth does she need? And where can I get a new one?
All day Masha and Sasha thought and looked for answers. In the evening, when they were getting ready to go to bed, Sasha discovered that one of his teeth was shaking. Gathering all his courage and courage, he pulled it harder, and the tooth fell off. Sasha immediately called Masha, and they were surprised to discover that under the old tooth a new one, very small and white, was growing.
This time the children decided to wait at all costs for the fairy to come for the tooth. They put him under the pillow again and pretended to sleep. They really wanted to sleep, but they pushed each other when one of them began to nod off. I really wanted to know what the tooth fairy looked like. It was unpleasant to look into the darkness, but Sasha moved the lamp on the table closer so that he could immediately turn it on if something happened.
And late at night, Sasha felt that someone was crawling under his pillow. He pushed Masha and immediately turned on the lamp. The children were surprised to see a cute little fairy. She was the size of a hamster who lived in a corner of wildlife in a kindergarten. But that's where the similarities ended. The fairy was dressed in a beautiful dress. She had a cute bow on her head. But most importantly, iridescent wings grew behind her back.
The fairy looked reproachfully at the children and said: “Well, why aren’t you sleeping?”
The children were surprised and could not utter a word. — Well-mannered children say hello, especially when they see someone for the first time. - Hello, Aunt Fairy! - said the children. - Sorry to bother you. But we really want to know why you didn’t take Mashin’s tooth!
- Oh, this... Is it really possible to bring your teeth to such a state? Look for yourself, the tooth has clearly suffered from sweets. Here it was rubbed off by the candy, and here there will soon be a hole. And here, just look, caries! My head is just cracking from such tortured teeth! — the fairy got excited. — It’s obvious that you often have sweets for breakfast, and prefer chocolate for dinner! – she continued sternly.
“But we clean them every day, even twice!” - the children were surprised. “Of course, you need to brush your teeth, but no brush will help if,” the fairy began to bend her fingers.
- There are as many sweets as you eat! — Rarely change toothbrushes! - Refuse normal breakfast, lunch and dinner! — There are few vegetables and fruits, milk and dairy products! - Be afraid of the dentist! - Distract yourself while eating with cartoons!
- But why? - the children asked. — Now you have milk teeth that have already begun to fall. This is called changing teeth. It happens once in the life of all people. Permanent teeth, like baby teeth, need to be taken great care of. If their teeth are bad, children get sick much more often, which means they drink bitter medicine and get sick injections. Dental health depends on you. Look at Vitya - he has a very beautiful smile. And if you don’t take care of your teeth, it will only get worse!
— You need to train your teeth - eat raw vegetables and fruits, apples, chew nuts, carrots. They are full of vitamins and minerals that every tooth in your mouth needs. — You can brush your teeth in the morning, after lunch and in the evening, before going to bed.
Sasha and Masha realized that they didn’t do much of this. That's why the fairy didn't need the tooth. The fairy was kind, she immediately realized that these children just love sweets, but they obey mom and dad and behave well. So she said:
- You are good kids. Sometimes angry and capricious children try to catch me in a jar. Then I put a spell on their teeth, and they spend a long time having them treated at the dentist. You are not like that, so here are your gifts. And give me your teeth - I’ll take them to the tooth fairy museum.
Immediately, two boxes with toys for Sasha and Masha appeared on the bed. The children happily began to thank the fairy: “Thank you!” Thank you! - Please! - she said and turned to fly away.
“Wait,” said Masha. -What do you love most? The fairy smiled and flew away. The children looked after her for a long time and did not believe that all this was really happening. Do you know what the tooth fairy loves most? The answer is healthy teeth!
How much does the tooth fairy pay?
(Do I need to clarify that the price for teeth is determined by parents?)
Mythology does not specify the exact price, but it is said that the fairy leaves one coin for one tooth. And money in coins in our time is much less than money in papers...
In 2013, the Visa company (the same one that produces payment cards) conducted an interesting study, during which the exchange rate of the teeth of small American capitalists in relation to the dollar was clarified - on average, a fairy leaves a child 3.7 dollars, that is, about 280 rubles in modern terms course.
The secret of baby teeth
In a 2003 study, experts found that baby teeth are rich in stem cells. So they are sent to laboratories and used to produce different types of cells that could potentially treat cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Thus, preserving a lost baby tooth helps in the investigation of vital issues and can even save the child's life in certain cases.
How to store it correctly?
Before you start storing your child's baby teeth, it is important to remember to keep them fresh. Placing them in a box will cause the stem cells to lose their activity over time. You can use a service like Store-A-Tooth. This is a liquid nitrogen cryopreservation facility that allows you to preserve stem cells for a long time. In this state, the teeth are frozen, and after thawing they can be regenerated.
The baby tooth should be transferred to the cryobank as quickly as possible - preferably within the first two days after it falls out. At the same time, he must be completely healthy: without caries and with pulp. Parents should take care of their children's baby teeth if they want to use them as a source of stem cells in the future. If a potentially dangerous situation arises, you can always contact an organization to use stored stem cells.
Found a violation? Report content
Why adults don’t remember childhood and why does the fairy need children’s teeth (22 photos)
According to the legend of any nation, teeth have enormous magical powers. Why are they given to the Mouse and what does the Tooth Fairy do with children’s teeth?
Every nation has legends and fairy tales related to teeth. Some legends have been preserved more fully, while others remain fragments of memories. They all agree that teeth have powerful magical powers.
Regarding milk teeth, legends of many nations agree. The lower teeth were thrown onto the roof, and the upper teeth were thrown behind the stove.
Where did the tooth go then? The Mouse or the Tooth Fairy would come and take the tooth.
To ensure that the tooth was in the right hands, a message or gift from the person who took the tooth would appear in place of the tooth.
According to an unspoken agreement, the rate for one tooth is one ruble in local currency. Sometimes, by agreement with the parents, fairies raise the rate to five local rubles. But they take the kickback with fillings.
You can easily tell by money that it is magical. This money is sprinkled with small sparkles. This is not glitter, but real fairy dust from fairy wings.
And the fairy and the mouse take the tooth for themselves. The mice take the tooth to the sky, and the tooth becomes a star. There is no need to look for logic in this action. She remained in that part of the legend that is lost.
There is a theory that one day the dental specialist Mouse became a fairy. In the 19th century, Spanish writer Luis Coloma wrote a tale for the young King Alfonso Xll, who lost his first tooth at age eight. In the fairy tale, the Mouse's name was Peris. Later the mouse got wings, and then the mouse turned into a fairy. Apparently for good behavior.
So let's return to the question of the future fate of the tooth. According to legend, baby teeth store childhood memories. And to make it more convenient to use the tooth, fairies make jewelry out of them. And when they want an adult to remember something, they wear jewelry with a tooth that stores these memories.
Teeth that hold special memories are especially decorated. This tooth, for example, is decorated with a large diamond. It contains memories of special brightness and purity, sparkling like a well-cut diamond in the rays of the sun.
A discreet design for a tooth with simple but important memories. This is how they remember a simple and good life. Suddenly your soul feels calm and good from the life you have lived.
But events in life are different, and we must try to choose a worthy design for them.
And it happens that several memories are interconnected. And they are always remembered all together. And a stone in a ring for this special occasion.
Sometimes adults who still believe in magic and old legends put fairy teeth under their pillow.
A group of memories not related to events in his personal life were reflected in a bracelet made of specially made teeth. These are teeth made of fimo plastic - when you want to preserve memories that were not part of your life. And one gold tooth. For a special day, you get the idea.
