The road between Heaven and Hel had opened up, so the spirits of the dead could roam freely into the world and meet their shadows in battle, on a field called Vígriðr ("ride of the dead", "weighing of the dead"). Höðr had already been killed, and the bear lay peaceful in his winter lair, so what were they actually fighting against?
Höðr was a mysterious bear and wolf deity, a winter spirit, and was called Fenrir ("fenced-in-plague") when he attacked on Ragnarök. He was also called Mánagarm ("Moon swallower"). They say he was blind, but in reality his image was based on the sorcerer, dressed in robes and wearing a hood or large hat, who climbed the oak on the Autumnal Equinox and cut down the mistletoe and thus killed Baldr. The sorcerer wanted this bough because he needed it to rule the world, but the religious men and women accused him of being the reason winter came in the first place. They believed he killed summer by doing this!
Höðr too rose from the dead when called upon in the Yule tide, and charged on the field of battle, to fight Óðinn and the other gods.
Ragnarök is known from the myths as well. All the powers went to war against each other. Óðinn was killed by Höðr, who in this context was in shape of a giant wolf, Fenrir, i. e. the berserks. Þórr killed Jörmungandr, the mistletoe, but took only nine steps before he too died, from the poison of the worm. The light god Freyr ("spare", "free", "love") fought against the darkness, against Surtr ("black"), but was unarmed and fell. This was the Sunlight inside the burial mound on the Winter Solstice that eventually had to give way to the darkness. Loki faced Heimdallr and they killed each other; lightning against tree. Only ash was left after them. Týr ("beam") met the mighty dog guarding the entrance to Hel and they killed each other too. Víðarr was the most important hero in this drama; he killed Höðr/Fenrir and thus avenged the killing of Óðinn. He placed his big boot inside the fire-breathing mouth of the wolf and tore it in half, but also burned his foot in the process.
The adults split into two groups in this festival. One group was to represent the elves and the evergreen forest, the summer that refused to give in to winter, and was led by the king. They were dressed in white dresses or skirts, adorned with branches from Víðarr's sacred spruce. The other group was to represent the shadows and darkness, winter trying to end all warmth and life, and was led by the prince. They were dressed in furs and black dresses or skirts. The spirits of nature were originally seen as hermaphroditic, and the participants represented them, so the men had to wear dresses and the women shirts.
The army of summer was armed with torches, saxes, sickles or scythes, and the army of winter threw ash. The battle was called a sword dance and was a ritual intended to ensure that summer prevailed over winter. If winter won this symbolic battle the crowd would shout things at the winter warriors, throw things at them and perhaps even intervene to ensure that summer prevailed. Although it was only a symbolic battle summer had to win. Even a symbolic victory for winter would be disastrous. That's how things are when you believe in sorcery...
The life force of the berserks was hidden away elsewhere. When the summer warriors took their bear or wolf skins and tore them from them and trampled on them they killed the winter spirits, but left the actors unharmed. This was Víðarr killing Höðr/Fenrir.
The festival was called Ragnarök, which translates as "the origin, development, evidence, reason, end or destiny of the powers". This was not the twilight of the gods, as so many believe today, but their purification and renewal. This process took place every year and always at the same time of year. It was no coincidence that the battle took place on a Saturday: the day of the deity of purification.
The day after Ragnarök, the 8th day of Landviði, was the Day of Eldbjörg ("fire-rescue"). This was the final day of the Yule tide and they drank on this day a toast to the Sun, and rejoiced because they had rescued the Sun. Because of their sorcery/rituals the Sun was about to get its life force back. The queen (or lady of the house) walked three times against the Sun around the house with a wand, a juniper bough, a tree dedicated to Óðinn, to send the dead back to whence they came, to the realm of the dead. She drank some beer from a bowl and threw the rest into the fire. She then uttered a formula: "This high my fire, but not higher or hotter", to make sure the fire did not grow too strong. The others sat down on the floor with their hands on their backs and drank – or tried to drink – beer from a bowl placed on the floor. The more beer you managed to drink, the better it was for your luck and happiness the coming year. If you spilled any beer you were not allowed to drink any more, and had to be content with what you had already drunk.
The 11th day of Søkkvabekkr was known as Hel's Horse, and on this day they walked in procession from farm to farm, carrying torches as symbols of the cleansing fire. This was done to clean the house and throw out any remaining spirits still left there. This was the final purification after the Yule tide, and on this day they finally ate the decorative food they had made for the dead before Yule. This was also considered the day the bear turned over in the winter lair, and therefore the day Hel, the goddess of death, changed her mind and decided to let Baldr return. She did because she saw that the whole world and everything in it wept for him: the snow melted, creating small creeks everywhere. Hence the name Søkkvabekkr ("deep creek", "sinking creek"). Hel sent a horse from the realm of the dead to the world of the living, to give them the news that Baldr would indeed return. Naturally, summer could not return until the snow started to melt, and it did this final winter month.
The 22nd day of Søkkvabekkr was All Heart's Day and was considered to be the day the birds began to mate. This was the day the deities fell in love with each other. You could tell they did, because their spirit animals, the birds, started mating. The sky fell in love with the Earth, the Sun with the Moon, and so forth. Baldr/Bragi fell in love with Nanna/Íðunn while still in Hel.
The 7th Sunday before Easter, unsually the 1st of Þrúðheimr, was known as Washing, known from Gaelic as Imbolc or Imbolg ("washing"), and was regarded as the first day of spring. Washing lasted for a full week.
The Sunday of Washing was called Pork Sunday, and this was the day Hel's horse arrived with the news that Baldr would return. Everyone therefore gave thanks to Hel on this day. Pork Sunday was the day they transferred the fertility of spring to the women, by whipping their behinds with fresh birch branches. This custom survived well into the age of gods, and a form of this is in fact still practised in parts of Scandinavia.
On White Queen Monday they travelled the land to collect bacon, flour, eggs and other white food items for the large bride's race. Dressed in white and wearing ribbons and wreaths of flowers they danced and sang all the way, from farm to farm, women and men, girls and boys, led by the king (alias the May King) and the queen (alias the May Queen), whether they were sorcerers or deities. The king and queen sat in a carriage, drawn by horses or the others in the procession. The queen did all the talking and the ladies and girls sang "Bride, bride, most beautiful bride", to invite to the race all the women who believed they stood a chance at winning the bride's race. The females in the procession wore men's clothes on their upper bodies, and the men wore dresses, because they represented the hermaphroditic spirits. This custom remained even after the belief in spirits was supplemented with a belief in deities.