Photos: various
Swedish toothache pines
Some of you might recall I wrote a bit about Trees in Scandinavian tradition a while back.
I haven't been able to find mention of even one Norwegian toothache tree still standing, whereas the Swedes seem to have several in every region. I wonder why is that? Anyway, here are some pictures of Swedish ones.
Top left: Storhultatallen - the Storhulta pine - in Västra Götaland, also known as Mossen's toothache pine Top right: Klampabron toothache pine in Västra Götaland Middle left: Gammeltallen - the old pine - 1 km south of Finnbromossen, Örebro Middle right: Trolltallen - the troll pine - toothache pine near Skärmarboda, Örebro Bottom left: Keeled-over toothache pine in Nottebäck, Småland, 1938 Bottom right: Toothache pine on Andersvägen, Norra Haga, Solna, Stockholm
Curing toothaches magically is still practiced many places in Scandinavia to judge from the look of some toothache trees. The method used is called "to put away" which is exactly what you do - you take the illness, in this case toothache, and you put it away. The details vary from region to region, but shaping one or more sticks from wood and poking into the tooth with them until you draw blood, after which you hammer the stick or sticks into the northern side of a tree, is very common.
