why is good friday called "good friday"?
398880
In the days of the early Christian church, only Easter Sunday was celebrated as a holy day.  By the fourth century, each day of the week preceding Easter were established as holy days including Good Friday.  To most Christians, Good Friday is really a misnomer in that it was a "bad" Friday—the crucifixion day of Jesus.  Some believe the term "Good" evolved from "God" or God's Friday.  Others believe "good" represents the good gift of salvation brought forth by the martyrdom.  Regardless, it is a holy day throughout the Christian world.\n\nCeremonial worship of the holiday follows closely to the events described in the scriptures.  Some congregations still hold a three hour service on Friday representing the three hours He hanged on the cross.  A typical service includes seven distinct elements representative of Christ's seven utterances while on the cross.
853152
We celebrate it because it is the birth of Jesus Christ. We (Christians) also celebrate Easter because it was then that Jesus awoke from the dead, three days after He was crucified.
856767
Christmas (tho called by other names) is a pagan holiday that the Church adopted in order to make people  feel more inclined to follow Christianity.  Alot of Christianity was adopted from pagan rituals---a matter of comfort level for the people.\n\nTrue, today, the merchants are the biggest promoters of Christmas.  And, they do a good job if it.
812711
Note: ECCLES.7:1 = "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."\n\nCHRISTMAS\nChristmas isn't Jesus's birthdate; it was the birthday of the sun god. Scripture doesn't mention Jesus's birthdate or any christians celebrating His Birthday. The only birthday mentioned besides Pharoah is the heathen king Herod. "Christmas" means "mass of Christ"; the celebration coexisted in Rome before there was any in Jerusalem. The early Roman Church however did establish a pagan festival that (Jer.10) coexisted with Jesus's Birth and that was the birthday of the sun god. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., article: "Christmas"). The Catholic sources admit that Christmas didn't co-exist with the earliest festivals. Jesus wasn't born Christmas; even scripture makes this evident. "On the night of Jesus's birth, the shepherd's were still keeping watch over their flocks." (Luke 2:8). The rainy season in Ancient Israel began after the Feast of Tabernacles which generally is early October. In November, it would be cool and wet; the flocks from the pasture had already been brought and kept in winter quarters by the shepherds. This tells us the shepherds were no longer in the fields at night. Another peice of evidence is overlooked is in Luke 1:35-36; it tells us John the Baptist was born to Mary's cousin Elizabeth six months before Jesus. And as we look further in verse 5-17, we see Zacharias an elderly priest burning incense on the altar and then an angel appearing to him and telling him that he and his wife would have a son to prepare Christ's Way. We know however when this announcement was made by the angel because of Zacharias was "of the course of Abijah" Please look at 1Chron.24:1-19; it tells us that King David divided these priests into 24 "courses" that served in the temple by rotation. The Course of Abijah would be the 8th of the 24 courses which usually would occur around the end of May. Pentecost came the week after the 8th course served and he had to serve all 24 courses during the three festival seasons. So Zacharias came home approximately after the first week of June; in which John the Baptist was conceived around mid-June and 9 months later would be his birth. John Baptist's birth came around mid-March while Jesus's was around mid-September. Also notice every year people claim 3 wise men seen Jesus in a stable; is this really true? The Bible nowhere states "3 wise men" or "that the wise men visited Jesus in a stable". Read for yourself: (Matt.2:11); these Magi came from the east beyond the Euphrates River which in the 1st century was called the Parthian Empire (the eastern border of the Roman Empire). Several weeks after Jesus's birth, the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, the king's palace searching for Jesus. The "star" in the east led them to take their trip to Judea. After hearing about the timing of the "star's appearance" from the Magi; King Herod ordered the slaughter of all children two years and younger(Matt.2:16). When Jesus was 40 days old: His parents presented him in the temple (Luke 2:22)(Lev.12:2-4). After the Magi came, the family fled to Egypt. {Jesus six weeks old.}\nWHEN WAS JESUS'S BIRTH?\nhttp://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/tw/magazine/tw-mag.cgi?category=Magazine33&item=1104261794\nhttp://family.webshots.com/photo/1342393463049373547FazWzQ\n****************************************************************\nHow Christmas came about. Is it related to Valentine's?\nVALENTINE'S (CUPID)\nCENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST, THE PAGAN ROMANS CELEBRATED FEBRUARY 15 & THE EVENING OF FEBRUARY 14 AS AN IDOLATROUS & SENSUOUS FESTIVAL IN HONOR OF LUPERCUS, THE "HUNTER OF WOLVES". THE ROMANS CALLED THE FESTIVAL "LUPERCALIA"; CUSTOM OF EXCHANGING VALENTINES & OTHER TRADITIONS TO HONOR LUPERCUS, TH
877403
That's because now that it's a federal holiday, it has turned into a secular celebration. Christians have stolen practically all of their holiday traditions from pagan ritual.\n\nDo you honestly think Jesus was born on December 25th?\n\nChristmas isn't an exclusively Christian holiday, little miss possessive. Do you want us to stop eating, drinking, having parties, and being merry simply because you don't like the idea of us non-believers celebrating a pagan holiday?\n\nFor a Christian, you sure are spiteful. Tsk tsk.
19103
I am an Atheist and have no problem at all with "Merry Christmas" or "Christmas Tree" or anything simular.  If a store wants to display signs that say Merry Christmas than I think thats great.  If they want to have Happy Holidays instead, I see no problem with that either.\n\nFor me, December 25th is Christmas Day.  Its not Holiday Day or Solstice Day... its Christmas Day.  \nOf course the word Christmas may have more meaning to some people than to others.  I dont celebrate the birth of Christ and most Theists dont either.  Maybe one day we will have an ATHEIST DAY and damn to hell if I would let some Jesus Freak make me change it!
197866
April 14th is Good Friday.  I'm not sure if is a national holiday because it involves Easter and not everyone celebrates Easter.
866788
Have often wondered that myself.The whole Xmas tree and decos,cards and White Christmas theme can be blamed on Queen Victoria and her husband Albert.He was German, and in Europe they have had a combination of the St.Nicolaus (Santa) gift giving and a larger celebration for a few centuries.Though the day of gift giving varies from Xmas day in some countries.In England it used to be on the 26th ,that's why its called Boxing Day.\n But as to why it continued on after the Victorian era ,I have no idea!\n   As you know Jesus was not born anywhere near Xmas.But many other Gods were.So Christianity "adopted" it. \n An obvious reason for its perpetuation is its commercial potential,its been pounded into us so much that we feel the good old post/Christian guilt if we don't buy presents and take part in family rituals and traditions on that day.\n I get a bit 'narked because it is my birthday on the 25th Dec. and it gets lost in among the Xmas trappings.\nSo I have an excuse to celebrate on that date even though I don't pretend to be Christian.
709270
Christmas has always been celebrated around the chosen date of Christ's birth, (even though it's disputed as to his true day of birth).  The big hullabaloo was over the department stores trying to over compensate politically correct greetings of "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays", not entirely to NOT offend all customers, but to protect their bottom line profit, in case the Christmas greetings did offend someone & they might not shop their.  As I recall, Walmart was the instigator of the uproar.\nAs to reserving Christmas celebrations just around the 25th of Dec., our culture has survived much around the changing of the Holiday, just by instituting other countries traditions into the Christian Christmas long before many Europeans immigrated to North America.  The change with Santa Claus, etc.  For as long as their has been money to profit on a holiday, so has the holiday changed from its true origins.\nI think that it should always be respected as a Christian day of celebration (Christ's birth), but everyone has joined in to celebrate the Holiday "Christmas" in their own way, even going as far as an Atheist wishing those who are of a Christian faith, a "Merry Christmas", just out of respect like wish them good health, or have a nice day.  Or from a person of Asian descent, who participates in buying a Christmas Tree & presents, but doesn't beleive in Christ & then may prepare for the Chinese New Year Celebrations, etc.\nBesides... not all Christians celebrate Christmas the same either... eg: The Roman Catholic Church has mass at different times than say the The United Church.  And the opening of gifts is for some celebrated Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day.\nTO EACH HIS/HER OWN... I say, but let us show respect & tolerance for everyones religious days, even if that means saying nothing at all.
767808
Good Friday for the next 3 years is 2007-6 April 2008-Mar 21 2009-April 10\n\nEaster Sunday is 2007 8 April 2008-23 March 2009-12 April
405411
Easier to follow than the truth.  As you stated, Christmas is one that is a pagan holiday that has come in through tradition.  The Catholic church has adopted many traditions that the rest of the churches as a whole has also adopted as well.  One is the first day as being the day of worship.  I have seen the writings of all the major religious leaders of all the churches that state the Sabbath of the Bible is the seventh day, not the first, and that they know the Catholic church is the one that did the change and yet they follow the sunday worship anyway, the first day of the week, a pagan holiday.  The venerable day of the Sun, when the pagans worshipped the sun god and the whole world follows the pagan tradition.  Those that say they are Christians and do not follow traditions best do some studying into what they are believing.  I would offer $50,000 cash to anyone that can show me from the bible alone that Sunday, the first day of the week is sanctioned by God to be observed as His worship day.  Look it up on the net and you will find there is no command like that, it is only the tradition from the Catholic church.  Easier to follow the crowd than to lead the crowd.
430185
Then you should ask those who are Roman Catholics, maybe they know more about it. But why do you ask?\n\nI overheard my friend said that holy Friday celebration begin after the God's rebirth but I forgotten the details about it. Maybe it could be wrong because I wasn't quite listening when he was telling the other person about it.
323819
Okay . . . Okay . . . the questioner is correct . . . \n\nChristmas is originally a pagan holiday . . . a week long festival . . . actually 12 days long . . . reminds you of a song.\n\nThis holiday was adopted to convert pagans into Christianity . . . and they accepted it hook, line, and sinker.\n\nThe majority of the holidays celebrated by Christian have pagan origins . . . but back to Christmas . . . \n\nSome of you said you celebrate this day in remembrance of the birth of Christ.  Did Christ ask his followers to remember his birth?  No he did not . . . instead he commanded his followers to commemorate the last supper in his remembrance . . . . Not do perform it daily or weekly . . . but annually like the early christians did . . . prior to 325 AD.
45791
The origin of the Friday the 13th superstition has been linked to the belief that there were 13 people at the last supper of Jesus, who was crucified on Good Friday, but it probably originated in medieval times. It has also been linked to the fact that a lunisolar calendar must have 13 months in some years, while the solar Gregorian calendar and lunar Islamic calendar always have 12 months in a year. Another suggestion is that the belief originated in a Norse myth about twelve gods having a feast in Valhalla. The mischievous Loki gate-crashed the party as an uninvited 13th guest and arranged for Hod, the blind god of darkness, to throw a branch of mistletoe at Balder, the god of joy and gladness. Balder was killed instantly and the Earth was plunged into darkness and mourning as a result.\n\nSome also say that the arrest of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights on Friday, October 13, 1307 by King Philip IV of France, is the origin of this superstition. That day thousands of Templars were arrested and subsequently tortured. They then 'confessed' and were executed. From that day on, Friday the 13th was considered by followers of the Templars as an evil and unlucky day.
307859
I've been to both. In reality, Jesus, and all others, when they were crucified, by Jewish custom had to be taken down from the cross (dead) before sunset Friday, which is why the Roman soldier put the spear through his side. They usually broke the legs of those crucified on the cross to hasten their death, but since Bible prophecy said that none of Jesus' bones would be broken, they stabbed him instead. So, I think they ought to have Good Friday services just before sunset, but in reality it doesn't really matter. It's the commemoration of the event that matters.
900895
For people to find out just where Christmas actually came from, and how it really makes God feel. Celebrating a Pagan festival can not be pleasing to God. Changing the name to suit mans purpose, still does not hide the fact of where it originated.
912815
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving.  When people go crazy for Holiday Shopping.  Its called Black Friday, because the sales go through the roof for retailers.  It on some document where it hits the black mark, hence the name Black Friday.