I will like to give hearty Good Friday wishes to everyone reading this post, today on 10th April 2020 and also to show respect you can download Good Friday DP for WhatsApp. As we are already aware that India is a beautiful country depicting the amalgam of the multiple religions and providing to everyone without discrimination. The beauty of our country is very aptly understood from its celebration of major as well as minor events of every religion, ranging from its majority Hindu population’s festivals of Hanuman Jayanti to one of its minority community’s festival of Good Friday.
Good Friday is celebrated every year on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday. It is a very important festival marking Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death. Easter marks the most important occasion of the Christians as it is the day when Jesus Christ resurrected. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon following the northern spring Equinox. Every year it is celebrated between 21st March and 25th April in the Western Church. The weekend from Good Friday to the Easter Sunday is very popularly known as the “Easter weekend”.
Story of Good Friday
The explanation of why celebrate Good Friday lies in the story of Jesus Christ’s demise and resurgence.
About 2000 years ago, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. There he taught people the difference between good and bad. He performed miracles by bringing back the dead to life and healed the sick. But some very rich and powerful people in the town grew jealous of the followers and popularity he was gaining. These people formed an association with Judas Iscariot, who was a disciple of Jesus. Judas consented to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver.
As Jesus sat for dinner with all his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, he told them that he would join his father in the heaven the next day cause one of the believers had taken money to betray him. Later, Judas visited Jesus with the Priest’s men who took him to the Jewish leaders. They questioned Jesus’s teachings and when Jesus testified that he was “the son of God”, the high priest condemned it as an act of blasphemy and sentenced Jesus to death. On Friday, following the first full moon, Jesus was nailed to a cross. This day is now known as the Good Friday. It is also known as Black Friday or Holy Friday.
Mother Mary and Jesus’s disciples laid his body in a cave and made it his tomb. On Sunday, Jesus visited Mary and told her that he was resurrected by God. That day is celebrated as Easter Sunday.
Good Friday Traditions across the world
Christian devotees visit the church and fast on Good Friday in order to grieve the death of Jesus. While the fast is primarily observed by the adults, devotees under 18 years of age usually refrain from eating meat.
Good Friday Traditions In Mexico
Residence of Iztapalapa in Mexico, perform a dramatic representation of Christ’s crucifixion. It is sponsored by the local government. It is called “Passion Play” and is recognized by the United Nations.
Good Friday Traditions In Spain
In San Vincente de la Sonsierra, people dressed in white habits participate in the procession and put together a graphic display of whipping their backs by using grass ropes for 20 minutes.
Good Friday Traditions In England
At Trafalgar Square in London, more than 100 participants gathered for the realistic enactment of Jesus Christ’s death.
Good Friday Traditions In Germany
In the town of Bensheim, annual Good Friday celebration is hosted by the locals with theatrical performances, beginning with Juda’s kiss of betrayal and ending with Jesus carrying the cross of death.
Good Friday Traditions In Rome, Italy
All statues and pictures of Jesus in churches are covered with purple or black cloth from Good Friday to this. This marks the period of mourning Jesus’s demise. No holy masses are observed but, in Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Pope presents Good Friday liturgy of the Lord’s passion followed by a song service lasting for around 2 then. Then the Pope walks towards the cross with bare feet and bare head and kneels before the statue of Jesus Christ.
Good Friday in India
The spread of Christianity in India in the early 14th Century by the missionaries, who were part of British colonization led to the establishment of the catholic churches across the country. Celebrations are grand, especially in Goa, which is the host of one of the biggest churches in Asia “the old Goa church”. Christians attend service and pray throughout the day. They break their fast with the home-cooked feast at night.
Good Friday is a gazette holiday in India, which means that it is declared mandatory by the government for all the institutions in the country. This answers the question that many people have that is Good Friday a bank holiday in India positively. Even the stock market in India will remain shut on the occasion of Good Friday on 10 April 2020.
Virtual Good Friday Celebrations
As the majority of the world population is under lockdown, in the light of recent events of the uncontrollable outbreak of the Coronavirus, the mass gatherings of devotees in religious places are banned and hence people are expected to pray from their respective homes.
In order to mark this affair, several people use a special Good Friday DP for WhatsApp and wish their loved ones through text messages. Following quotes are an example of how to wish for Good Friday:
“May your faith in God, bring peace to your heart and new hope in your life. May God always bless you and have a blessed Good Friday”.
“Good Friday marks the importance of our Jesus, the unblemished lamb, the perfect sacrifice. He took our guilt and blamed upon himself”.