Good Friday

Good Friday is celebrated in different ways throughout the world. What is the significance, why is it called good; there are many things that usually people want to know. Usually only a part of information is gathered in one place. Read on to know everything about Good Friday.


The Good Friday is traditionally celebrated as a day on which Jesus was crucified. It comes on the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday. The Christians honour and memorize the event, passion and suffering through which Jesus went through. Many Christians spend the day fasting, offer prayers, perform meditation and most often spend the day in repentance.

There are different opinions on this day. Some feel sorrow for the sufferings and even give pain to them selves while others understand that Jesus offered his life so that many people could be saved. It was not that his life was taken but he himself offered his life. Usually the holidays start from Good Friday and end on Easter Monday with rejoicing and celebrating Jesus' raising after the death.


Why Good Friday is termed Good?

Roman Catholics include specific prayers and devotional songs on this day as they memorize this special day traditionally. Usually in the evening Christ's death is remembered with sad and solemn prayers and prayers of thanksgiving. Good Friday is a moveable feast and there are many explanations why Good Friday is termed 'Good'.

The word 'good' was considered 'holy' in old English and so Good Friday is said Good. Also God had the last word through Christ's death and people were, actually, redeemed by the death of Jesus. This is also why it is good about this day.


Celebrations of Good Friday

The celebrations are different in different parts of the world and also the ways differ among various types of people. Catholics attend the Church and relive the fourteen Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross are areas around the Church that depicts the ways through which Christ was taken along and the sufferings he went through. No mass is celebrated and there are special readings from Scripture.

There is a tradition in which crucifix is kissed and the cross is honoured and venerated. That day there is no candle burnt in front of the God which is always set burning to show that God is present everywhere. This day, according to this tradition, God is considered as not present. This is the only day when the candle is unlit and there is no mass in the church, according to Catholic tradition.

There are people who hold special church services from noon to three o'clock, which is believed to be the time when Christ was crucified. The focus is the seven last words of Christ. The lights are slowly dimmed and then finally darkness prevails in there. This ends with a loud noise and is considered as Jesus' last cries and the earthquake that had occurred at the time of his death.


How people celebrate Good Friday

People wear black clothes, cover the statues, pictures and crosses with black and unlit all the candles.

Attend the church and say prayers. Memorize and honour Christ's death and sufferings and attend the services that are sober and solemn.

Every Christian participates in the Holy Communion.

Most of them believe that attending Stations of Cross as a part of Good Friday services where there are paintings and banners that depict scenes of the day of crucifixion and his betrayal to death. People sing hymns and prayers as they attend from one Station to another.
Although the way of celebration is different in different parts of the world, the significance of Good Friday is that if Jesus had not suffered, his resurrection would not have saved the Christians.

Holi festival

One of the major festivals of India, Holi is celebrated with enthusiasm and gaiety on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun which is the month of March as per the Gregorian calendar.

Holi festival may be celebrated with various names and people of different states might be following different traditions. But, what makes Holi so unique and special is the spirit of it which remains the same throughout the country and even across the globe, wherever it is celebrated.

Preparations

Entire country wears a festive look when it is time for Holi celebration. Market places get abuzz with activity as frenzied shoppers start making preparations for the festival. Heaps of various hues of gulal and abeer can be seen on the roadside days before the festival. Pichkaris in innovative and modern design too come up every year to lure the children who wish to collect them as Holi memorabilia and of course, to drench everybody in the town.

Womenfolk too start making early preparations for the holi festival as they cook loads of gujiya, mathri and papri for the family and also for the relatives. At some places specially in the north women also make papads and potato chips at this time.

Season of Bloom

Everybody gets delighted at the arrival of Holi as the season itself is so gay. Holi is also called the Spring Festival - as it marks the arrival of spring the season of hope and joy. The gloom of the winter goes as Holi promises of bright summer days. Nature too, it seems rejoices at the arrival of Holi and wears its best clothes. Fields get filled with crops promising a good harvest to the farmers and flowers bloom colouring the surroundings and filling fragrance in the air.

Legends

A Hindu festival, Holi has various legends associated with it. The foremost is the legend of demon King Hiranyakashyap who demanded everybody in his kingdom to worship him but his pious son, Prahlad became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap wanted his son to be killed. He asked his sister Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap as Holika had a boon which made he immune to fire. Story goes that Prahlad was saved by lord himself for his extreme devotion and evil minded Holika was burnt to ashes, for her boon worked only when she entered the fire alone.

Since that time, people light a bonfire, called Holika on the eve of Holi festival and celebrate the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of devotion to god. Children take special delight in the tradition and this has another legend attached to it. It says that there was once an ogress Dhundhi who used to trouble children in the kingdom of Prithu. She was chased away by children on the day of Holi. Therefore, children are allowed to play pranks at the time of 'Holika Dahan'.

Some also celebrate the death of evil minded Pootana. The ogress tried to Lord Krishna as an infant by feeding it poisonous milk while executing the plan of Kansa, Krishna's devil uncle. However, Krishna sucked her blood and brought her end. Some who view the origin of festivals from seasonal cycles believe that Pootana represents winter and her death the cessation and end of winter.