What is Good Friday?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011: A penitent carries a wooden cross around a street of San Fernando city, Pampanga province in northern Philippines, to reenact the sufferings of Jesus Christ and to atone for their sins in observance of Holy Week which culminates in his death on Good Friday. More than a dozen penitents will have themselves nailed on the cross across the country to reenact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (Bullit Marquez - AP) Good Friday, the most solemn day in the Christian calendar, sees a wealth of rituals. (“Good,” in this context, means “holy.”) The “Way of the Cross,” which re-enacts Jesus’s painful procession to various points (“stations”) in Jerusalem on his way to the crucifixion, takes place not only inside churches but in outdoor processions with local people portraying Jesus, Pontius Pilate and the disciples. Sometimes processions pause at real-life locations where violent crimes have occurred, to remind participants of the connection between Jesus’s suffering and those of contemporary men and women.

Women help Oscar Rivera, 26, prepare to portray Jesus in the Stations of the Cross. The annual reenactment wends its way through the streets of Takoma Park and Silver Spring on Good Friday. (Katherine Frey - WASHINGTON POST) Many churches sponsor sermons on the “seven last words” (really the seven phrases spoken by Jesus on the cross, as recorded in the Gospels.) Some pastors take this opportunity to invite people from other denominations (and non-Christian religions) to address their congregations. Some Christians refrain from doing anything “fun” (when I was growing up: television) between noon and three, when Jesus is supposed to have hung on the cross.

More On Faith:

James Martin: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday: What’s a Triduum?

Campbell: Why we need Good Friday more than ever

Thistlethwaite: What’s good about Good Friday?

Children dressed as penitents carry banners with pictures of the Stations of the Cross at a procession during the third Sunday of Lent in Guatemala City March 27, 2011. (STR - REUTERS)