oak apple day

Oak Apple Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom on 29th May. It is the anniversary of the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660. In some parts of the country, the day was also known as Shick-Shack Day. Traditional celebrations to commemorate the event often entailed the wearing of oak apples or leaves, in reference to the occasion after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 when the future Charles II of England escaped the Roundhead army by hiding in a Boscobel oak tree (known in some parts of the country as a shick-shack). It is widely believed that these ceremonies, which have now largely died out, are continuations of pre-Christian nature worship. Events still take place at Castleton in Derbyshire, Upton-upon-Severn, Northampton, the Grovely Forest near Salisbury and Great Wishford in Oxfordshire.

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