Castleton Garland Day Castleton Garland Day Castleton Garland Day or Garland King Day is held annually on 29 May (unless that date falls on a Sunday, when the custom is transferred to the Saturday) in the town of Castleton in the Derbyshire Peak District. The Garland King, on horseback, and covered to the waist in a heavy, bell-shaped floral garland, leads a procession through the town. The date of the custom coincides with Oak Apple Day and it is said to commemorate the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. By the 1960s, it had become received wisdom that the celebration was a
Oak apple due to the superficial resemblance and the preponderance of the oak marble gall in the wild. Other galls found on oak trees include the oak artichoke gall and the acorn cup gall, but each of these has its own distinctive form. Some common oak-apple-forming species are the "Biorhiza pallida" gall wasp in Europe, "Amphibolips confluenta" in eastern North America, and "Atrusca bella" in western North America. Oak apples may be brownish, yellowish, greenish, pinkish, or reddish. Oak galls have been used in the production of ink since at least the time of the Roman Empire. From the Middle Ages to