Good Friday 2024: Origin, traditions, meaning and why it is celebrated in the USA
The most important days of Holy Week, which commemorate the final days of Jesus Christ’s life, have arrived. Here is the origin and meaning of Good Friday.
This March 29, Good Friday is celebrated, known in English as ‘Good Friday’, which corresponds to the Friday before Easter Sunday. This day commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary.
According to the New Testament, on this day Jesus was crucified by the Romans. Jesus was convicted of blasphemy because he claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus’ claims had irritated the Jewish religious leaders, so they brought him before the Romans. Because of this, the Roman leader, Pontius Pilate, sentenced Jesus Christ to crucifixion.
Origen of the “Good” in Good Friday
With such a tragic event being commemorated on the Friday before Easter, which celebrates his resurrection, many wonder why the term “good” would be used to descirbe the day. Christian traditions in some places do use terms to express mourning like Karfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) in German.
However, the suffering of Jesus on the cross and him giving his life for the sins of mankind and their eventual salvation makes the term “good” appropriate as well. ‘Good Friday’ comes from the obsolete ‘pious, holy’ sense of the word ‘good’. The adjective has traditionally designated “a day on (or sometimes a season in) which religious observance is held,” according to Fiona MacPherson, senior editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. So in this setting, “good” refers to “a day or season observed as holy by the church,” explains the OED.
The tradition of fasting during 'Good Friday'
Like the rest of the Fridays during Lent, Good Friday in the Catholic tradition is also marked as a day of fasting. This is in accordance with article 110 of the Sacrosanctum Concilium, issued by the Second Vatican Council. A fasting day means a single full meal, although some people usually add two snacks, that is, a smaller meal in the morning and another at night.
Furthermore, this Friday, like all Fridays of Lent, meat is not eaten. The Code of Canon Law states that “penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.” It also indicates: “Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.”
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, abstinence laws consider “meat” to come only from animals such as chickens, cows, sheep or pigs, all of which live on land. Other poultry and fowl is also considered meat. On the other hand, fish and shellfish do not fall into that same classification, so their consumption is not prohibited.
Is Good Friday a federal holiday?
Despite being an important day for religion, especially Catholics and Christians, Good Friday is not a federal holiday and few states recognize it. Although some markets close, government and postal offices will be open, as will UPS and FedEx. Banks will be open, but business hours may vary.
Good Friday is currently recognized as a state or government holiday in 12 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.
Although it is not a holiday in every state in the country, many will observe the day by fasting and attending religious services and traditional church reenactments. Many commemoration events include processions where the Way of the Cross is reenacted.