Allantide

Allantide is a Cornish festival signifying the end of summer (equivalent to Halloween). It is traditionally celebrated on the night of the 31st October and the following day. Also known as Allan Night or Allan Day it gets it’s name from the little known Celtic Saint, St Allen or Arlan. The festival in Cornwall is the liturgical feast day of St Allan, who was the bishop of Quimper in the sixth century. As such, Allantide is also known as Allan Night and Allan Day.

The ancient custom of providing children with a large apple on Allhallows-eve is still observed, to a great extent, at St Ives. "Allan-day," as it is called, is the day of days to hundreds of children, who would deem it a great misfortune were they to go to bed on "Allan-night" without the time-honoured Allan apple to hide beneath their pillows. A quantity of large apples are thus disposed of the sale of which is dignified by the term Allan Market.

In Cornish, Allantide is “Kalan Gwav”, meaning first day of winter, centres around juicy red apples. People gave big, shiny (highly polished) red apples to friends and family to bring good luck. Local Allan apple markets were commonly held before the big day.