Oak-Apple Day, England

Oak-apple Day (Royal Oak Day; Shick-shack Day; Nettle Day), England

Not only is May 29 the birthday (1630) of King Charles II of England (1630 - '85), it is the day when he entered London at the Restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660), putting an end to Puritan rule.

Today was commanded by an Act of Parliament in 1664 to be observed as a day of thanksgiving, and a special service (expunged in 1859) was put in the Book of Common Prayer. English people wore sprigs of oak with gilded oak-apples (oak galls caused by larvae of the wasps Amphibolips confluenta, Biorhiza pallida and others) on that day.



It remembers Charles II's concealment with Major Careless (or Major or Colonel Carlos, sources vary) in the ‘Royal Oak’ (thus escaping the Roundhead army) at Boscobel, near Shifnal, Salop, after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651. As Commonwealth troops approached Boscobel House, searching for Royalists, the King and Careless spent a day hidden in the Royal Oak in the grounds, and the next day hid in a priest hole at the house. After this, Giffard and the Pendrills were able to smuggle the King and Carlos to France ...

Categories: uk, history, calendar-customs