JEFritz wanted to know when the tooth fairies were created. Tooth fairies first appeared in America in the 1920's. However, they didn't appear in print until the 1940's. Before that time a child's first tooth was either burned, buried, taken by mice or rats, thrown over the roof, tossed in a river, etc. Even in cultures where the tooth fairy doesn't exist*, these other methods are still used.
Basically, in almost all cultures all over the world, (but most heavily in countries that were affected by the Black Plague), a child's first tooth is ritually disposed of, and not just thrown out.
Why the connection to the Black Plague? I'll save that part for the next post :)
*Aunt Nancy, the head of the tooth fairies, wants to expand tooth fairies to those other cultures. Movies about tooth fairies may be a way for her to start expanding the territories of tooth fairies.
Huh. I never knew how symbolic the first lost tooth was.
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