Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, the day on which Christians annually observe the commemoration of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. From the early days of Christianity, Good Friday was observed as a day of sorrow, penance, and fasting, a characteristic that finds expression in the German word Karfreitag (“Sorrowful Friday”). According to the Jewish calendar, Jesus died on 15 Nisan, the first day of Passover, which according to the Gregorian (Western) calendar would be April 7. Christians, however, do not commemorate this fixed date. Instead, they follow the apparently flexible date of the Jewish Passover—which conforms to the Jewish lunisolar calendar rather than the Gregorian solar calendar—by relating Jesus’ last meal with his disciples on the evening before his Crucifixion to the Passover seder. While this assumption is problematic, the dating of both Good Friday and Easter has proceeded on this basis. Thus, Good Friday falls between March 20, the first possible date for Passover, and April 23, with Easter falling two days later.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 22:41:48 +0000
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