Brooklyn, NY – A long standing Scandinavian tradition has apparently, quite literally, taken root in the heart of Borough Park as two trees outside a 48th Street apartment building seem to be growing an unusual crop – used pacifiers.
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“The old building superintendent used to hang the pacifiers that he found dropped on the ground on the trees,” one building resident told VIN News. “Over time people started bringing their children here and they would hang their pacifiers on the tree as a way of getting their children to give up their pacifiers.”
There are actually two pacifier trees at The Plymouth, located at 1450 48th Street. According to a recent article in Mishpacha’s Family First Magazine, the pacifier tree phenomenon began approximately seven years ago and today, the trees average one ceremonial pacifier hanging a week, as children make the trek to 48th Street to bid adieu to their beloved pacifiers, easing a rite of passage that can sometimes prove difficult for toddlers and frustrating to their parents. While hundreds of pacifiers have been hung over the years, approximately several dozen pacifiers adorn the trees at any given time as many are blown away or fall to the ground as their supporting branches break.
While pacifier trees may be rare in Brooklyn, they are not uncommon across the Atlantic and both the Swedish word “napptrad” and the Danish work “suttetrae” translate to “pacifier tree”. Pacifier trees can be found in Slottsskogen, Sweden, Aarhus, Denmark, in Frederiksburg Garden, located near Copenhagen and in Mannheim, Germany, with pacifiers tied to the tree with ribbons, often with attached notes and pictures as well.
so we are copying a goyish minhag??
We need another tree to hang up all the junk food and candies today’s kids eat that tree would be more valuable thqn this one.
would be interesting to see where the super is from
If parents wouldn’t shtup the thing into the kid’s mouth to begin with, they wouldn’t put the kid through the aggravation of giving it up!
We used to have a good bye pacifier party and the little one would bid a fond farwell to each one as we put it in a bag..
Best advice ever received which I share often: For a teething baby, a little liquor on the pacifier works wonders , but if it doesnt give the pacifier to the baby!
Thanks for this piece.
Nice to have positive reporting !
What an adorable article! First time I heard about this tree I thought it was hysterical, though clever!
To #5
U give alcohol to ur baby? Lmaoooo
i think this is adorable. can we get a ”blankie” and ”bottle” tree as well?
but skip the ”diaper” tree.
🙂
We had the “minhag” of having the toddler put the pacifier in a little box or envelope, supposedly to mail it to a far-away baby cousin.