This day wouldn’t be possible without the enigmatic little creature at the heart of it: the tooth fairy. This fictional being can be traced back to the 1920s. This is when Esther Watkins Arnold wrote an eight-page playlet for children in 1927. This 3-act playlet first introduced the tooth fairy to parents for the first time. 

However, although she practically invented the tooth fairy out of thin air, the author undoubtedly based the being off the fairies that appeared in myths and legends for thousands of years. The English word “fairy” comes from the Early Modern English word “faerie.” This word means “realm of the fays.” 

However, this early English word can actually be traced further back than that to the Old French word “faierie” and even further back than that to the word “faie” that was derived from Latin. They faie, fee, or fay, in Old French legends, they were skilled in magic and knew how to work nature in a way that enabled them to make powerful magic items, potents, or periapts. 

Just about every culture in Europe had tales about these wee little magical folk. In Christian mythology, they were considered to be demonic entities, but in other religious traditions, there were seen as angels. Over the years, they’ve also been considered by some to be elementals, as a prehistoric race of hidden peoples, or as spirits of the day. #ToothFairy