Fast Day

A Fast Day is a day of religious fasting observed at various periods by different religious groups, Jewish, Christian, and perhaps others, sometimes with the authority of government.

In American history it is an obsolete holiday, "A day of public fasting and prayer", which was traditionally observed in the New England states. It had its origin in days of prayer and repentance proclaimed in the early days of the American colonies by Royal Governors, often before the spring planting. It was observed by church attendance, fasting and abstinence from secular activities. The first fast day was proclaimed in Boston on September 8 1670.

Fast day had lost its significance as a religious holiday by the late 19th century. It was abolished by Massachusetts in 1894 (being replaced with Patriot's Day) and shortly thereafter by Maine (likewise, it adopted the new holiday). It continued on in New Hampshire until 1991, signifying only the opening of the summer tourist season; the April holiday was dropped and replaced with the January Civil Rights Day, and, in 1999, Martin Luther King Day. 

Examples of religious Fast Days

 * Baruch's public reading of Jeremiah's prophecies "upon the fast-day" (Jeremiah 36:6, American Standard Version ).
 * The Thursday of a present-day Scottish "communion season" still referred to as the "fast day" (though little actual fasting may be done)
 * A "Fast-Day Service" held in 1857 in London apparently to mark a national fast.

Links relating to New England history

 * Rise and Fall of Fast Day
 * The Feasts and Fasts of Spring