Christians around the world observe Good Friday two days before Easter, but what is it, and why do they commemorate the holy day?
The holiday is apart of Holy Week, which leads up to Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday kicks off the the series of Christian holy days which commemorate the Crucifixion and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Good Friday has been, for centuries now, the heart of the Christian message because it is through the death of Jesus Christ that Christians believe that we have been forgiven of our sins,” Daniel Alvarez, an associate teaching professor of religious studies at Florida International University, told USA TODAY.
When is Good Friday?
Good Friday is always the Friday before Easter. It’s the second-to-last day of Holy Week.
In 2024, Good Friday will fall on March 29.
What is Good Friday?
Good Friday is the day Christ was sacrificed on the cross. According to Britannica, it is a day for “sorrow, penance, and fasting.”
“Good Friday is part of something else,” Gabriel Radle, an assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, previously told USA TODAY. “It’s its own thing, but it’s also part of something bigger.”
Are Good Friday and Passover related?
Alvarez says that Good Friday is directly related to the Jewish holiday, Passover.
Passover, or Pesach, is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.
“The whole Christian idea of atoning for sin, that Jesus is our atonement, is strictly derived from the…
