Tonight I saw the Walsingham Beacon, as I was standing outside in a cold field with a friend and about another 100 Norfolk visitors. The beacon was lit for the Jubilee and as I noted the other day, about 4,000 beacons across Great Britain were all lit at the same time,10:00 p.m. At the same time, fireworks of a great variety and colour exploded next to the Beacon.
For my American readers, the Beacon was a remembrance of the original Anglo-Saxon beacons, lit at the invasions of the Danes. See post below for a beacon celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
Of course, Tolkien used this tradition in his books and above is the clip from the movie.