Bealtaine and the Festival of Fire was the beginning of the Summer season and it was celebrated with fire. Great bonfires were built and represented the purification and transition from the darker seasons into the warmer weather, the longer days, the time of growth and the hope of a good harvest. In Medieval Ireland Bealtaine was celebrated on the central hill of Uisneach 'the mystical navel of Ireland', upon which rested a great stone Ail na Míreann said to mark the meeting point of the five provinces