Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?

What is Good Friday?

Good Friday is an annual commemoration on the Friday before Easter Sunday to mark the day when Jesus Christ was crucified.

Having been arrested and sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the governor of the Roman province of Judaea, Christ was flogged, had a crown of thorns placed on his head – to ridicule his title as ‘king of the Jews’ – and made to carry the cross to the place of crucifixion outside the walls of Jerusalem.

Here he was nailed to the cross and crucified. Before his death after hours of torment, he cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Afterwards, he was removed from the cross, wrapped in linen and placed in a tomb, with a large stone rolled across to block the entrance.

This series of events is often depicted in churches with images or statues. These 14 events, from Christ’s sentence to death to being laid in the tomb, are called the Stations of the Cross.

Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?

Although it might seem incongruous to refer to the day of Christ’s crucifixion as ‘good’, the meaning of the name Good Friday can be understood as historically meaning ‘holy’. The use of ‘good’ denotes that this is a day of religious observance, and since this Friday is one of the most important in Christianity it is also one of the holiest.

The earliest-known use of “goude friday” comes from c1300, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

It is not a day of celebration, like Easter Sunday, but a solemn time of reflection. In Germany, the day is known as Karfreitag (Sorrowful Friday).

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In Christianity, however, the meaning of ‘good’ has been reinterpreted so that Good Friday can indeed be held as a good day. It was when Christ made his ultimate sacrifice for all people, dying for their sins so that they can achieve forgiveness and find eternal peace in Heaven.

The sorrow of Good Friday is also short-lived, with Christ’s victory over death on Easter Sunday. The day of the crucifixion can therefore signal the deliverance of good over evil.

How is Good Friday marked around the world?

Good Friday is marked in a multitude of ways, depending on the denomination of Christianity. The focus of all commemoration, however, is the veneration of the cross – from the ones seen in churches to even those on top of hot cross buns.

Services are held, with readings and hymns that relate to the Passion of Christ (the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion). As a sombre occasion, more focus is given to prayer and reflection. The Three Hours’ Devotion is a service lasting between noon and 3pm, the hours that Christ spent on the cross.

For Roman Catholics, Good Friday is traditionally also a time of fasting, and no mass is held (though other religious services are). In Rome, the pope leads a procession, called the Way of the Cross, from the Colosseum to the Palatine Hill.

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In the Eastern Orthodox Church, during the Vespers evening prayer, the epitaphios, a richly decorated cloth depicting the body of Christ, is processed to the centre of the church and placed on an intricately carved table covered in flowers, which represents the tomb of Christ.

Another common sight around the world are reenactments of the Passion of Christ. In Jerusalem, pilgrims retrace the footsteps of Christ, some carrying their own crosses, to the hill where he was crucified, Golgotha.

In parts of Central and South America, people observe Lent (the 40 days from Ash Wednesday through to Holy Thursday, the day before Good Friday) by making Alfombras, beautiful carpets made out of flowers, grasses, fruits, vegetables and coloured sawdust on the streets. Then during the Good Friday processions, they are trampled on to honour Christ’s sacrifice.

Are there any strange Good Friday customs and traditions?

The painted eggs, chocolate and bunnies are not common parts of the religious observance of Holy Week. Although, there is a tradition in Jamaica of placing an egg white in a glass of water on Maundy Thursday and the pattern it has made by Good Friday, when dried by the Sun, is believed to predict a person’s future.

According to tradition, Good Friday is the right time for a woman in Ireland to get a haircut, as it will grow back thicker and longer. Even just getting it washed that day will protect from headaches.

Similarly, anything planted in the garden on Good Friday is certain to grow. But blacksmiths and carpenters would not use hammers on the day that nails were hammered into Christ’s hands and feet.

In relation to the crucifixion, a severe custom is held in the Philippines every year. In the Cutud Lenten Rites Festival, volunteers flagellate themselves before actually being crucified, albeit temporarily.

One man, Ruben Enaje, has done it every year since 1986, except during the pandemic, meaning that – as of 2024 – he has been crucified 35 times.

When is Good Friday in 2025?

Good Friday takes place on Friday, 18 April 2025.

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What else happens in Holy Week?

Good Friday is one of several holy days that take place in the week leading to Easter Sunday. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when Christ made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the crowds waved palm branches.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all mark events in the last days of Christ, including his cleansing of the temple and Judas Iscariot’s betrayal.

Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, was when Christ and his Apostles sat together for the Last Supper before his arrest. The day after the crucifixion, Holy Saturday, commemorates Christ’s burial.

Holy Week ends with Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

Why does the date of Easter change every year?

The exact dates of Christ’s death and resurrection have long been debated in the history of Christianity. As such, Easter is not celebrated on a fixed date, unlike the birth of Christ which is always celebrated on 25 December.

Instead, the date depends on the Moon: Easter Sunday takes place on the first Sunday that comes after the first full Moon following the spring equinox. For the purposes of calculating Easter, the spring equinox is set in the Christian calendar to 21 March (known as the ecclesiastical equinox), which means Easter can be any time between 22 March and 25 April.

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Easter is linked to the Jewish holiday of Passover, the date of which similarly changes every year. This marks the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt: the last of the 10 plagues of Egypt sent by God was the killing of every firstborn child, but the Israelites painted their doorposts with the blood of a lamb so that the angel of death would pass over them.