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Hello All,

I wish you and your family, friends, near and dear........

A very holy Good Friday Festival (10/04/09) and happy Easter on Sunday (12/04/09).

Good Friday, also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday. It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary. However, it is called ‘Good Friday’ because, all that tragedy brought about the greatest good there could be and the hope that no tragedy, not even death, can overwhelm God’s providence, love, and grace. In some secular communities Good Friday has been erroneously referred to as "Easter Friday". However, the following Friday (after Easter) is the correct day to be named as Easter Friday. Good Friday or Black Friday, is a religious holiday observed primarily by adherents to Christianity commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Golgotha, an event central to Christian theology. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and often coincides with the Jewish observance of Passover.

On this day, Jesus carried his cross to the site of execution (assisted by Simon of Cyrene), called the place of the Skull, or "Golgotha" in Hebrew and "Calvary" in Latin. There he was crucified along with two other criminals. Jesus agonized on the cross for six hours and gave up his spirit. Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and placed it in his own new tomb that had been carved in the rock in a garden near the site of crucifixion and rolled a large rock over the entrance of the tomb. On the third day, Sunday, which is now known as Easter Sunday (or Pascha, the Jewish feast of the Passover), Jesus rose from the dead.

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter, which is calculated differently in Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon, the full moon on or after 21 March, taken to be the date of the vernal equinox. The Western calculation uses the Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern calculation uses the Julian calendar. Based on the scriptural details of the Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, the Crucifixion of Jesus was most probably been on a Friday. The exact year of Good Friday has been estimated as AD 33, by two different groups, and originally as AD 34 by Isaac Newton via the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars and the crescent of the moon.

In many countries with a strong Christian tradition, the day is observed as a public or federal holiday. Many Protestant communities hold special services on this day as well. In the German Lutheran tradition from the 16th to the 20th century, this was the most important holiday, and abstention from all worldly works was expected. Holy/Great/Good Friday is observed as a strict fast, and adult Christians are expected to abstain from all food and drink the entire day to the extent that their health permits. Also, ‘Spring Holiday’ is a generic North American term sometimes used in place of Easter or Good Friday. This term is used primarily in the United States as an evidence of a secular/non-religious purpose. Happy Spring Holiday….

Many many happy returns of the days.

All the best and take care….

With thanks, regards and best wishes,
G.Srikanth.