Mumbai: While many look forward to the long Easter weekend, Good Friday as we all know of was previously called Black Friday. The original title to the day also went by other names as Holy Friday, Silent Friday, and Great Friday before it was changed to Good Friday.
But why is Good Friday named so? The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that, “The origin of the term Good is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in Denmark.”
However, the explanation still remains unclear, But according to Baltimore Catechism, “Good Friday is good because the death of Jesus Christ, as terrible as it was, led to the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, which brought new life to those who believe.”
To those who believe in Christianity, Good Friday is the day that commemorates the death of Jesus who was crucified. It is an important day for Christians as it represents the sacrifices and suffering in Jesus’ life. While one may wonder why it is called Good Friday, the belief is that since the day Christ dies is ‘observed as a holy day’ it is called Good Friday.
Good Friday is followed by Holy Saturday, which marks the Easter vigil. Easter Sunday is a day of celebration of the resurrection of the Christ. Relatives and friends exchange gifts, most popularly Easters eggs – made of chocolates.
