National Tooth Fairy Day
Teeth, both human and animal, have been objects of fascination for humans for a long, long time. There is something about teeth, maybe their durability, their usefulness, maybe just their shape and beauty, that seems to captivate us.
Ancient humans, hunter-gatherers that they were, collected animal teeth from their prey and made them into wearable tokens, such as necklaces. Or often Mesolithic peoples, who lived between ten and twenty thousand years ago, sewed animal teeth into the pelts they wore as clothing.
People still collect animal teeth from a variety of species: sharks, bears, mountain lions, and leopards, the list goes on and on. In the late 19th century, members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks were accustomed to mount elk’s teeth and wear them as necklaces or watch fobs. (I learned of this when working with the actor David Carradine whose father, John Carradine, had been a member of the Order of the Elks and when he died left his own elk’s tooth to his son. It was a prized possession.) The practice was later abandoned when elks became endangered in after the turn of the century.
The ritual of saving human baby teeth and offering them to fantastical beings seems to date back to the Middle Ages. In Norse legends a magical being exchanged the baby tooth for a “tooth fee.” Eventually the Tooth Fairy, of varying descriptions, emerged from this tradition. But children’s teeth were also worn by Norse warriors in battle because they were thought to bring good luck.
Some Spanish-speaking countries have Ratoncito Perez a.k.a. El Raton de los Dientes, the Tooth Mouse, who performs the same exchange as the Tooth Fairy, often leaving a small gift rather than a coin. France has La Bonne Petite Souris, The Good Little Mouse, who imitates his Spanish-speaking brethren. In Asian cultures such as China and India, sometimes children take their baby teeth and throw them up in the air or down on the ground, depending on which direction they want their adult teeth, upper and lower, to take root and grow strong.
And that brings us back to the sometimes magical or special powers that various kinds of teeth have been believed to possess, e.g., the good luck properties of children’s teeth in battle or elks’ teeth as good luck charms.