Tooth fairy traditions - Germany and Japan

[featherfire]

Setting: This takes place in the present day, but the child in question was born in 1980 and is nine years old. He skipped into the future several years, but all his knowledge would come from the 1980s. However, his friend is from Japan, born in 1988 but also skipped several years into the future

Comments

[lovis]

Oh, we do have the tooth fairy tradition. She's called 'die Zahnfee' here. I was born '77 and in the west of Germany. I'd say everybody here knows that tradition, though not every family might go through with it. But yes, money and/or a letter under the pillow would be common enough for your character.

My mother had a pendant made for me out of one of my first teeth. I think I still have it around somewhere.

[featherfire]

Ah, west of Germany, that's even more perfect! Thank you very much!

A letter? What kind of letter? Just something noting the tooth has been taken, or is it something more?

[doro_chan]

It depends a lot on the parents. Mine never told me stories about the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause, so of course I never found out about this until later. I did, however, get a little present from my mother to make it less awful. But that stopped when I turned seven or so.

Oh, and I still have all my teeth in a little box somewhere.

I was born in 1983, by the way.

[benitle]

I did a quick Google search with the German translation of tooth fairy (Zahnfee) and various magazines for parents said that the ritual is becoming more and more popular in Germany. You put the tooth under the pillow and are rewarded with 50 ct or some little present. This is done for the first tooth you lose.

I am from Germany and was born in 1982 so that's around the time in question. However, we never did anything special when losing a tooth. I remember that I kept them in a nice, little colored box so that I could show them off to my grandmother each time she came to visit but we never got money or sweets for losing a tooth.

So I'm assuming that this is something that's rather new over here and might not have been popular in 1980.

I don't know about Austrian traditions, sorry.

[featherfire]

The Austrian thing was just because it was the closest country to Germany I found in my research, I figured they might have the same traditions.

Only the first tooth though, huh? He's been losing teeth for a few years, so maybe he won't get any money...

That's cute though, showing them off to your grandmother. Thanks for your help!

[doro_chan]

it was the closest country to Germany I found in my research, I figured they might have the same traditions.

Don't count on that. It might be true for the south, but I am from the north and I don't understand half of the traditions the people have down there. It's the same for them as well.

[featherfire]

Yeah, I've heard that...Austria and the south of Germany have a lot of crossover but it's not so true for the north. And my character is from the northwest, so he probably wouldn't know about things only southern Germans and Austrians would know. I should add that to my post, thank you. *edits*

[shawree]

My mother collected all my baby teeth in a little box marked 'Milchzaehne' for me, I've still got it somewhere. I never put a tooth under my pillow though, or got any presents for them (I was born in West Germany in 76). If I remember correctly we knew of the supposed 'tradition', but only as something that existed elsewhere, not as something anybody we knew actually did.

This leads me to believe that the 'Zahnfee' might be an imported tradition, just as Halloween is an imported holiday - nobody used to celebrate it when I was little, but it's becoming more and more popular now (I'm only speculating here though).

[featherfire]

Really...interesting. The kids have contact with people from a lot of different cultures, but not really anyone from Germany. So he might not know about it, if it's only been a recent import. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for your help!

[dandelion]

My mum was born in NRW and lived there for a long time before emigrating to England, and she says that while they keep the lost teeth, the money under the pillow is a very recent imported tradition.

Just a little thing to remember: your character is likely to be very confused by the fact that having skipped into the future a few years, the Berlin Wall has come down and reunification taken place. He isn't just from western Germany, he's from West Germany.

[featherfire]

Ah, hm...so if it's very recent, he might not know about it. And he knows about that part..the Wall and reunification, I mean. The skipping years thing isn't a recent thing, he's been in this time period for about a year. Thank you (and your mom too)!

[trobadora]

I'm pretty sure the Zahnfee (tooth fairy) is a very recent import in Germany - I certainly never heard of it until I came across it in the English-speaking world, which was in the early 90s. We didn't do anything with the teeth at all. (And I'm from southern Germany, in case that matters.)