Apple Day is an annual celebration of
apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
s and
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...
s, held in October. It is celebrated mainly in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It traditionally falls on 21 October, the date of the first such event in 1990, but events are held throughout the month. It is commonly a weekend event, usually taking place on the Saturday and Sunday closest to 30 October.
Apple Day events can be large or small, from apple games in a garden to large village fairs with cookery demonstrations, games, apple identification,
juice
Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...
and
cider
Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...
, gardening advice, and the sale of many hundreds of apple varieties.
History
Apple Day was initiated by
Common Ground on 21 October 1990 at an event in
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
, London, and has been celebrated in each subsequent year. By 2000 the day was celebrated in more than 600 events around the United Kingdom. Common Ground describe the day as a way of celebrating and demonstrating that variety and richness matter to a locality and that it is possible to effect change in your place. Common Ground has used the apple as a symbol of the physical, cultural and genetic diversity we should not let slip away. In linking particular apples with their place of origin, they hope that orchards will be recognized and conserved for their contribution to local distinctiveness, including the rich diversity of wild life they support. Apple Day is celebrated in October because August to November are usually the main time of year for apples during the autumn season, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
Media
"Apple Day" is the title of a song by UK songwriter Phil Baggaley, formerly of songwriting duo
Phil and John, and founder of Gold Records. The song was sung by the Christian gospel group Harbour Lights (no longer extant) on their 2006 album "Leaving Safe Anchorage". The song refers to Apple Day - and likens the converting of old bruised apples into cider to spiritual renewal and invites the listener to participate with the words "Meet me down at Apple Day, come and bring the fruit that's fallen, we'll turn it into something new .."
Apple Day is celebrated by the villagers in the radio soap-opera ''
The Archers
''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...
''.
See also
*
Apple Wassail
The Apple Wassail or Orchard Wassail is a traditional form of wassailing practiced in the cider orchards of Southern England during the winter, on either Twelfth Night (5 or 6 January) or Old Twelfth Night ("Old Twelvey", 17 January). There are ...
* Autumn
* Autumn Leaf Color
* Fall
* International Eat an Apple Day
*
Oak Apple Day
Restoration Day, more commonly known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, was an English, Welsh and Irish public holiday, observed annually on 29 May, to commemorate the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in May 1660. In some parts of England th ...
, a May Day celebration
* Seasons
*
Wassail
Wassail (, ) is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Christmastide and Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation either involved in door-to ...
*
Wassailing
The tradition of wassailing (also spelled wasselling) falls into two distinct categories: the house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting wassail. The house-visiting wassail, which traditionally occurs on the twelfth day of Christmastide ...
References
External links
*
* {{usurped,
Apple Day, Orchards and Tree Dressing at Common Ground}
Cider-related Apple Day events on the ukcider wikiWorld Apple DayApple Day event list for UK
Public holidays in the United Kingdom
October observances
Day
A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...