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| Child's drawing. |
The tooth fairy is a fantasy figure
of early childhood. The folklore states that when a child loses a baby tooth,
if he or she places it beneath the bed pillow, the tooth fairy will visit while
the child sleeps, replacing the lost tooth with a small payment.
The tradition of leaving a tooth under a
pillow for the tooth fairy to collect is practiced in various countries in the Anglosphere.
In Italy, the tooth fairy is also often
replaced by a small mouse. In France and in French-speaking Belgium, 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 children's teeth with coins.
The Ratoncito Pérez or Ratón
Pérez (Pérez Mouse in English) is a
figure popular in Spanish and Hispanic
American cultures, similar to the tooth fairy, originating in Madrid in 1894.
As is traditional in some English-speaking countries, when a child loses a
tooth it is customary for him or her to place it under the pillow, so that
Ratoncito Pérez will exchange it for a gift. The tradition is almost universal
in Spanish cultures, but takes different forms in different areas. He is known
as "Ratoncito Pérez" in Spanish speaking countries, with the
exception of some regions of Mexico, Peru and Chile, where he is called
"el Ratón de los Dientes" (The Tooth Mouse), and in Argentina,
Venezuela, Uruguay and Colombia, he is known simply as "El Ratón
Pérez".
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| Statue of Ratoncito Pérez. |
