I am comparing folklore customs for the time when a child has pulled a primary or "baby" tooth. I would like to know if the Sami have a tradition for such a time. For instance, some tribes in Alaska feed the tooth to a dog so that the "bad" tooth will be exchanged for a good, sharp tooth. Can you help me with this question?
Answer
I have found a few short mentions about the sami beliefs or stories about the loss of the first tooth as a child.
Schefferus, also in English: The history of Lapland (orig.
1674), chapter 26: Of their childbearing. He refers to Samuel Rheen and in the book:
En kortt relation om lapparnes lefwarne och sedher,... (Uppsala 1897) Rheen writes about that belief at least on page 9 in chapter: Om barnssens Vpfostrande och vptuchtellsse and on page 14 in the chapter: Huru the inbördes ärfwa hwar...
The child gets a reindeer of his own from the person who first sees the first tooth.
T.I Itkonen writes about the thing in Suomen lappalaiset
part 2, p. 394. He tells the same story about the gift to
the child: The father of the child gives the child a reindeer when the first tooth is to be seen.
Itkonen thinks this might be an old Scandinavian manner, also
finns, norwegians and estonians know that belief, called
also for hammasraha , a "money tooth".
With my best wishes for the Lapponica-information service: www.lapponica.net
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