Massachusetts Governor Jonathan Belcher's February 26, 1735 (NS 1736) proclamation of a fast day for April 1.
A Fast Day is a day of religious fasting observed at various periods by different religious groups, Jewish, Christian, and other, 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 (cf., Rogation Days). 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 Patriots' Day) and shortly thereafter by Maine, which also adopted Patriots' Day. It continued 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 then, in 1999, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.[1]
Fasting in Judaism[]
There are several fast days in Judaism, some more restrictive than others: Fast of Gedalia, Tenth of Tevet, Fast of Esther, Seventeenth of Tammuz, Fast of the Firstborn, Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur.
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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.