Why is the Friday before Easter called Good Friday given the nature of the events that the day commemorates?
337469
theologians best guess is that the nme is derived from "God's Friday"(the same way "good-bye came from "God be with ye"). In some countries Good Friday is known as Long Friday, Silent Friday, or Holy Friday.
431346
A lot of people get overwrought about this..  unnecessarily, I think.\n\nThe NAME "Easter" was indeed the name of the pagan spring festival of the Germanic tribes.\n\nBut the Jewish Passover (Hebrew 'Pesach', Greek translation 'Pascha') was held at the same time of year, and since Jesus was crucified at the feast of Passover and raised just after it, the celebration of his resurrection naturally ended up being held at about the same time.  \n\nActually, the early church had different customs for when and how to celebrate this season. In AD 325 a council of the church agreed to a formula for determining the date, and for always observing the Day of Resurrection on a SUNDAY, since it was on that day, the first day of the week, that Jesus rose from the dead.\n\nNow in the Mediterranean cultures they simply took the word English renders as "Passover" and used that name for the feast.  But when the church spread among the Germanic tribes it might sometimes be called "Easter" instead, from the name of the Germanic feast.  (We do, however, sometimes use the word "paschal" to refer to things related to the death of Christ and Easter.)   \n\nBUT under EITHER name the Christian celebration of the resurrection was not substantially different.  It was hardly "paganized", anymore than someone just 'decided' to celebrate the resurrection at the time of a pagan festival.  \n\n(The fact that there ARE spring festivals in varous religions is not all that surprising.  And if people want to make something of it, their criticsim ought to be of the original Hebrew Passover, which was in part a spring/seasonal feast --closely connected to the 'Firstfruits'-- just as the two other major Jewish festivals were harvest festivals!   But it is silly to conclude this somehow makes all these things pagan.  I would argue, instead that God called his people to see in the 'new life' of spring a sign in his creation of his SPIRITUAL work for his people, as he redeemed them from Egypt and gave them a new life.)
469257
I think that some of the people answering this question would benefit greatly from an elementary history lesson. Easter, in it's original form, was very much a Pagan holiday.  You can deny it until you're blue in the face, that doesn't change history.\n\nWhen Christians were forcing people to convert, they took over the Pagan holidays because it was easier to manipulate those holidays than it was to get Pagans to celebrate new ones.  So, they took over our holidays, built their churches on our sacred space and called it a day.  That's history, not opinion.  It's fact, look it up.
140182
Easter and Holy Week that leads up to it starting with Palm Sunday, then Holy Thusday (The Last Supper), then Good Friday (The Cruxifiction).  Plus Ash Wednesday, which is 40 days before Easter.  Followed by Christmas.
147093
Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, If Jesus has not resurrected our faith would be vain.
215485
the bible was written a couple of hundred years after jesus died... do you really think that's exactly what god and jesus said. actually a lot of parts of the bible were destroyed or are kept secret by the vatican! or are just being declared as fake. and most of the holidays we know and celebrate today are actually old pagan dates. the date of easter for example was set by constantine and a council:\n\nBefore 325 C.E. Easter could be celebrated on different days of the week; these included Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Again, the lack of solidarity among the churches of the ancient world created a schism in the power of the church. Constantine called the Council of Nicea in 325, the first great ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, where not only the Arian controversy concerning the nature of Christ was resolved, but the date of Easter was finally firmly established. This was called the "Easter rule," and the festival is always celebrated on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 (Tian et. al. 8). This, of course, contributed to a much more unified empire in the far flung borders of Constantine's reign.\n\na lot of things are different than they appear. and the bible is a very nice book if you read it by yourself or with someone you love and you take your time to figure out what the stories mean by yourself... having a priest telling you what it's all about can be dangers... dogmas etc.
176216
In Western Christianity, Lent is the forty-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday (Pascha). In Eastern Christianity, these forty days are known as Great Lent to distinguish it from the Winter Lent, or Advent (known in Greek as the "Great Fast" and the "Nativity Fast", respectively). This article will discuss Lent as is understood and practiced in Western Christianity, except when noted.\n\nEaster always falls on a Sunday between March 22 to April 25, roughly in early spring. Ash Wednesday, coming forty days (excludind Sundays) earlier, can fall anywhere between February 4 and March 16.\n\nFormerly Lent was referred to by the Latin term quadragesima, or the "fortieth day" before Easter. This nomenclature is preserved in Romance and Celtic languages (for example, Spanish cuaresma, Irish Carghas, and Welsh C(a)rawys). The name "Lent" comes from the Germanic root for spring (for example lencten in Old English ). The name change occurred in the late Middle Ages as Catholic sermons were spoken in vernacular instead of Latin.\n\nEaster celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ , while Lent is a time of preparation for Holy Week (or the Passion Week for Catholics worshiping in the new rite of the Mass). Holy Week recalls the events preceeding and during the crucifixion, which occurred in Jerusalem in the Roman province Judea, AD 29
353731
The day Easter is is determined this way.  Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the First full moon after the spring equinox.
470252
It is thought that it was originally called God's Friday but we call it Good Friday because Jesus was crucified on the cross for our salvation and the redemption of our sins.
264860
That darn Easter. Can it never make up its mind? What is a silly wabbit to do? It is always on a Sunday, so like Thanksgiving it is on different days in different years.
424244
"The English and German names, "Easter" and "Ostern", ... are instead related to ancient names for the month of April, Eostremonat and Ostaramanoth respectively. According to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede, this month was dedicated to the pagan fertility goddess Eostre. The Easter Bunny is often identified as a remnant of this fertility festival, although there is no evidence of any link."\n\nIn other languages the name for "Easter" is derived from the hebrew "Pesach" for the Passover holiday (ex french: Pâques, spanish: Pascua).  Only in the Germanic languages is it based on the older holiday.
340753
Easter is based on a lunar calendar.  It has to do with a specific Sunday after a number days following a full moon.  That's why the date moves around.\n\nI found a good article on www.wikipedia.org that goes into a great deal on the subject.
14658
Boxing Day\nThe day after Christmas, the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is better known as Boxing Day. The term may come from the opening of church poor boxes that day; maybe from the earthenware boxes with which boy apprentices collected money at the doors of their masters' clients. \n\nNowadays, we often see, in certain families, gifts (boxes) given to those who provide services throughout the year.
324788
Easter Sunday's date is loosely based on the Jewish calendar. That is the reason it is so complicated. And the reason it is based on the Jewish calendar is that the historical event occurred on the Jewish holiday of Passover. (Note, however, that some years, the computation of Easter does *not* bring it to a date on or near Passover, as the computation is different for 2 or 3--I don't remember any more--of the 19 year cycle.)\n\nThere are 2 different ways to calculate the date in any given year. One is based on a list of 19 dates (when you get to the bottom of the list, you start over at the beginning), where Easter is the Sunday following the corresponding date on the list.\n\nThe other method requires computing full moons after the (northern hemisphere) spring equinox, then adding days, again to bring it to a Sunday.\n\nThis is somewhat simplified. It is the basic information, not the detail. See below if you want to do the math yourself. Note, also, that the Eastern churches celebrate Easter on different dates in most years.
420919
Easter is derived from an ancient Germanic name for the month of April, Eostremonat--or rather Eostre Month, in dedication to the goddess Eostre. Eostre, or Ostara was a German goddess of fertility and her return was marked by the coming of spring and the sun. The Ost in her name refers to the East--the rising of the sun. The rebirth of the day and the rebirth of the spring were her specialties, and her celebrations occured during the vernal equinox--the first day of spring. Of course calendar dates have gotten juggled about for quite a few different reasons over time and now April is no longer where it once was on the calendar at what is now March 21st.\n\nThe rabbit was a traditional symbol of the goddess because of its great fertility, and the fact that the coming of spring marked the time when all of the little bunnies were seen starting to be born.\n\nWhen Christianity became the predominant religion it was an easy transition to introduce the rebirth of the Christ figure into the already extant birth and rebirth tradition. Old ways die hard, and the bunny stuck around. \n\nAlthough there are several explanations for the eggs the Easter bunny brings, (other than eggs are another traditional symbol of birth/rebirth) the most likely is that eggs were forbidden during the fast of lent, and were decorated and eaten in abundance to mark the end of the fast.\n\nGerman protestants, although breaking with Roman Catholocism and the tradition of the lent fast, liked the egg tradition and kept it. And when German immigrants came to America, they brought with them the traditions of the Osterhase (Easter hare) and his eggs.\n\nInasmuch as Christianity has stolen the ancient goddess' name for their own holiday, it seems only fitting that its original mascot still puts in an appearance each year.
197866
April 14th is Good Friday.  I'm not sure if is a national holiday because it involves Easter and not everyone celebrates Easter.
469443
In my opinion it is called Good Friday because this is the day when it is remembered that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we may all have eternal life and if we ask all our sins will be forgiven.\n\nSad he had to go through so much torture and we will never fully appreciate what he did for us.