Good/Bad Friday

Jesus returns to reenact Good Friday in Tombstone, Arizona.

Today is called Good Friday by Christians because Jesus was crucified. I've never understood that description. Such a gory occassion should have a name more like Tragic Friday or Bad Friday.

On this Good Friday my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted an explaination about the name of this day. So I made it a Google Friday and went hunting for information. Well, I found the Catholic Encyclopedia, and here is what they say.

From the earliest times the Chritians kept every Friday as a feast day; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why Easter is the Sunday par excellence, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of Christ's death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday. The origin of the term Good is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in Denmark.

Not a conclusive result. It would seem to be logical to call it God's Friday, as the whole bloody episode could be said to be in "God's hands." But if I were Jesus (and I'm not, at least the last time I checked) then Long Friday seems more appropriate. If I had been crucified (and history shows that Jesus was only one of many) then I would have been thinking "this is going to be one hell of a Long Friday." I know I'd certainly wouldn't say "Thank God, it's Friday."

I've never had a job that gave me the day off due to Good Friday. But usually here in Michigan the weather is improving by now and beginning to feel springlike. It's been sort of a private tradition to accomplish something on Good Friday. I'll tell myself, "Today seems like a good Friday to get a haircut." Or maybe "This is a good Friday to begin some spring yardwork."

But seeing as this year Good Friday coincides with the end of tax season, I'll more than likely say, "Good Friday! It's time to do taxes!" Which in effect makes the day a Bad Friday.

Darn, now I'm a little grumpy, I abhor doing my taxes. Now I want to call today, Grumpy Friday or Freakin' Friday. Of course due to April 15th falling on the weekend, I have a day or two extra to get my taxes done, and I don't HAVE to do taxes today. So I am back to calling it Good Friday, or maybe Procrastination Friday.

At least it's not the 13th, in which case it would be Good Friday the 13th, and wouldn't that seem extra dangerous? Throw in a full moon and I'd probably hide inside all day and night.

The Church of No Preference offers no preference on how one deals with Good Friday, except we do like to say what we would say on any Friday, "Have a good Friday!"