Days of humiliation and thanksgiving

[1] National days of prayer for specific occasions had been ordered in England as early as 1009 by King Æthelred the Unready.

[2] Occasional days of fasting were held in England in the middle of the sixteenth century under Elizabeth I in response to plague outbreaks and the Armada Crisis of 1588.

[4] A day of humiliation and fasting might be proclaimed in response to a drought, flood, fire, military defeat, or plague.

Everyone between the ages of sixteen and sixty was expected to spend the entire day in fasting, church attendance, listening to sermons of exhortation and meditating on their sin.

[5] A day of thanksgiving might be held in response to signs of God's mercy, such as rain allowing a good harvest, arrival of needed supplies, or recovery from sickness.