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The Tooth Fairy is a Mouse in France and a Magpie in Korea

In American culture, the tooth fairy visits whenever a child looses a baby tooth. Children put the tooth under their pillow when they go to bed at night, and wake up in the morning to find that the tooth has been replaced by some money! Sometimes the tooth is put in a decorated box (such as the one at left), and placed next to the bed. This tradition is not just a great way to convince children to go to bed early. It is rooted old beliefs and superstitions that have created different ways of dealing with lost teeth in different cultures.

Many cultures had superstitions or beliefs that witches or other evil-minded spirits can use a body part such as a tooth, fingernail clipping or a lock of hair to gain power and cast spells over the person that it belonged to. Other cultures simply see the proper disposal of the tooth as a way of ensuring that strong, healthy teeth would grow in its place.

One old English tradition is that children must drop the lost tooth into a fire. In many parts of Europe it was common practice to bury the tooth in the garden, so that a new, strong tooth could ‘grow’ in its place. As people moved into cities, they began placing the teeth in small flowerpots, or planter boxes. Eventually, this practice of ‘burying’ the tooth in the ground evolved into burying the tooth under the child’s pillow, where the tooth ‘grew’ into money. In some cultures, instead of money, the child receives a treat or a small present instead.

In French and Latin American cultures, the tooth is taken from under the pillow not by a fairy, but by a little mouse. This tradition is illustrated in the French folktale ‘La Bonne Petite Souris,’ which tells the story of a mouse that helps a good Queen defeat an evil King by hiding under his pillow to torment him and knocking out all of his teeth. In Spain and Spanish-speaking cultures, this mouse is referred to as ‘Ratonicito Perez,’ or the “little mouse Perez,” a character was created around 1894 by the priest Luis Coloma, who wrote the tale for the royal 8-year-old Alfonso XIII, when one of his teeth had fallen out.
There are other ways of taking care of the tooth. In Hungary, the baby tooth was put into a bottle with water, and the tooth melted in about two years time. In Italy, people simply keep the tooth in a safe place.

Feed it to the Dogs

In some cultures, animals get involved in other ways. In Mongolia, the baby tooth is hidden in a piece of meat and fed to a young dog. Dogs are highly respected and thought of as guardian angels. When the ‘guardian angel’ dog eats the tooth, a strong new tooth will grow in its place. In some old European customs, baby teeth used to be fed to rodents, since rodents have sharp, strong teeth, which continue to grow for their entire lives.

In Korea and Japan, children throw the tooth up on the roof of their house, with different customs saying that the lower teeth should be thrown on the roof – to encourage the new tooth to grow upward, while the upper tooth should be thrown under the house, to encourage the top tooth to grow downward. When throwing the tooth on the roof, Korean children sing a song to the magpie – a symbol of good luck — will pick up the old tooth and bring a new one. Throwing the tooth under the house, the child may call out a request for the tooth to be replaced with the tooth of a mouse, again because mice have teeth that continue to grow for their entire lives.

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