>>13705147During the Halloween rituals, children who were old enough to shed their milkteeth were to be "consecrated." Our ancestors considered the shedding of the milk teeth as the entrance into the ancestral spirit. By this, it is meant that the child, who is named after an ancestor or forefather, symbolically absorbs the ancestor or the forefather's spirit as the baby teeth fall out. Therefore, it was also the case that the rebirth rituals were only done when the child had reached this age. Such rebirth rituals seem to have been marked by the most important holidays - at the turn of the season around the sun and lunar cycle. The loss of deciduous teeth was somewhat symbolic of this process, and from nature's point of view, this is an indication that the lactation period is definitely over.
We still have a well-known tradition around the loss of milkteeth. Today, the child puts his or her broken teeth in a glass, bowl, bag, or something similar overnight. It is said that the tooth fairy comes and leaves money in exchange for the teeth. This tradition is also ancient and pagan. Receiving gifts for teething and growth of adult teeth, we can also read about in the sagas. The word Tannfeé(«Tooth fairy») is officially stated to be the term for the gift itself, but the symbolism in this may well go deeper.
"Ýdalir heita, þar er Ullr hefir
sér of görva sali;
Alfheim Frey gáfu í árdaga
tívar at tannféi."
Ydalir call they | the place where Ull
A hall for himself hath set;
And Alfheim the gods | to Freyr once gave
As a tooth-gift in ancient times.
A «Fe» is a dead’s ancestor’s spirit in the myths. In Grímnismál we can read that Frøy got Alvheim(«The home of the elves») just as a tooth fairy. Frøy is in the mythology a Vanir, which personifies the spirits of our ancestors, the purest and noblest of them. Frøy is the power that is linked to ancestry, lineage, genus, allodium, blood, soil, and fertility.