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Home > Festival > A unique celebration of the autumn harvest in Southwark

A unique celebration of the autumn harvest in Southwark

By Caroline King - October 4, 2018Posted in : Festival, Food & Drink

October Plenty - Bankside, London - Apple Day Harvest - Photo: Sas Astro

October Plenty at Bankside in London (Photo: Sas Astro)

When: 21st October 2018, from 12pm

Where: Bankside (near Shakespeare’s Globe), London

£: Free

What is it?

On Sunday 21st October, head down to the South Bank in London for a unique celebration of the autumn harvest as the Lions part hosts October Plenty.

The event is a celebration of the seasons, weather and food; mixing ancient seasonal customs and contemporary festivity with theatre performance.

October Plenty will begin at Bankside, near Shakespeare’s Globe, at 12 noon and will continue at Southwark’s historic Borough Market.  Everyone is welcome to join in the 21st autumn harvest celebration, which is held in association with Borough Market’s 10th annual Apple Day.

The event will feature appearances from the Corn Queene, the traditional Hobby Horse and the Berry Man.  Heavy with wheat, fruit and vegetables, the magnificent Corn Queene will appear in procession in front of the Globe, along with the Lions part’s company of actors, the traditional Hobby Horse and the Berry Man.  The Berry Man is the autumnal version of the Green Man, decked with wild fruits and foliage.

October Plenty - Bankside, London - Apple Day Harvest - Photo: Sas Astro

The Berry Man (Photo: Sas Astro)

Join the procession of music, flags and spectacle through the streets to the historic Borough Market, where celebrations will join in with the market’s Apple Day.  The Green Market and Market Hall will come alive with apple celebrations, including apple games, conkers, Morris dancing and tastings. Visitors will be able to sample food, cider and apple juice as well as the usual renowned food fare.

All afternoon a little orchard of young apple trees will create a space for children’s storytelling, with the theme of apples, markets, magic and harvest.  There will also be a display of local, rare and odd apples.

This year, the Lions part will welcome The Fabularium with a brand spanking new heroic romp There be Monsters. Don Quixote and his side-kick Sancho Panza take an epic quest to revive chivalry, confront monsters and seek to right what is wrong or accidentally wrong what is right…

Afterwards, there will be the celebrated dance, The Execution of John Barleycorn, and the infamous stripping of the Corn Queene.

At the end of the day everyone is invited to visit and decorate the historic Cross Bones Graveyard in Red Cross Way.

More info: www.thelionspart.co.uk/octoberplenty

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Tagged With: Apple Day, Family events, Free events, London

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