Friday, April 16, 2010

The Tooth Fairy is a Rat

I really don't know why I was looking up the Tooth Fairy but I found some interesting information. Tooth tradition is present in several western cultures under different names. In early Europe, it was a tradition to bury baby teeth that fell out. In Anglo-Saxon and Latin American culture when a child's 6th tooth falls out it is customary for the tooth fairy to slip a gift or money under the child's pillow, but to leave the tooth as a reward for the child growing strong.
This is displayed in Spanish-speaking countries by a character who is called Ratoncito Pérez, a little mouse with a common surname, or just "ratón de los dientes" (tooth mouse). The "Ratoncito Pérez" character was created around 1894 by the priest Luis Coloma (1851–1915), later a member of the Real Academia Española. The Crown asked Coloma to write a tale for the eight-year old Alfonso XIII, as one of his teeth had fallen out. A Ratón Pérez appeared in the tale of the Vain Little Mouse. The Ratoncito Pérez was used by Colgate marketing in Venezuela[2] and Spain[citation needed].
In Italy, the Tooth Fairy (Fatina) is also often replaced by a small mouse (topino). In France, this character is called La Petite Souris ("The Little Mouse"). From parts of Lowland Scotland comes a tradition similar to the fairy mouse: a white fairy rat who purchases the teeth with coins.
This connection between mice and teeth is similar to how in some Asian countries, such as India, Korea and Vietnam, when a child loses a tooth the usual custom is that he or she should throw it onto the roof if it came from the lower jaw, or into the space beneath the floor if it came from the upper jaw. While doing this, the child shouts a request for the tooth to be replaced with the tooth of a mouse. This tradition is based on the fact that the teeth of mice go on growing for their whole life, a characteristic of all rodents. So really the tooth fairy is really just a euphemism for a rat sneaking under your pillow and taking your teeth.

1 comment:

Alicia Williams said...

Mike-yes this is actually interesting info here and, might I add, quite relevant for me and my daughter. She will be losing a few teeth soon and she'd be surprised that if we lived in another country-a rat would be delivering the "goods", but I won't tell her that!! Lol!

Also, I was trying to figure out which post you were referring to F.B. Let me know, I want to check it out.