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Many schools and churches celebrate a Harvest Thanksgiving service around this time. In current form this tradition was started by an eccentric Vicar in Cornwall , England in the 19th century, but its roots go back thousands of years.  From the time that stone-age hunter-gatherers changed from a nomadic to an agrarian way of life and cultivated plants for food on a regular basis and domesticated animals, the beginnings and end of harvest seasons became hugely important - a cause for celebration and establishment of associated rituals. When the ancient Hebrews began to settle in the rich and fertile land of Canaan they adapted their worship of God to the seasons of the farming year. In this new land God promised that they would enjoy: "...a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, a of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread ...