Good Friday
| Good Friday | |
|---|---|
 Christ Crucified by Diego Velázquez, 1632 | |
| Observed by | Christians |
| Type | Christian |
| Significance | Commemoration of the Passion, crucifixion and the death of Jesus Christ |
| Observances | Worship services, prayer and vigil services, fasting, almsgiving |
| Date | The Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday |
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| Related to | Passover, Christmas (which celebrates the birth of Jesus), Septuagesima, Quinquagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Holy Saturday which lead up to Easter, Easter Sunday (primarily), Divine Mercy Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Whit Monday, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi and Feast of the Sacred Heart which follow it. It is related to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which focuses on the benefits, graces, and merits of the Cross, rather than Jesus Christ's death. |
Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha), part of the Passion of Jesus. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum.
Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, United Protestant, and some Reformed traditions (including certain Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist churches), observe Good Friday with fasting and church services. In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3 p.m.— the hours the Bible records darkness covering the land until Jesus' death on the cross. In the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions, the Stations of the Cross are prayed in the evening of Good Friday, as with other Fridays of Lent. Members of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.
The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world. Some predominantly Christian countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts—public dancing, horse racing—in remembrance of the somber nature of Good Friday.