GOOD FRIDAY. On Friday April 7, 2023, the faithful practice the office of the Passion of Christ, fasting or lean meals and the Stations of the Cross. What is the meaning of all these traditions of Good Friday, a public holiday in Alsace and Moselle?
[Mis à jour le 4 avril 2023 à 15h30] This Good Friday on April 7, 2023 is “celebrated” the death of jesus christ on the cross. Betrayed by his disciple Judas, Jesus Christ is arrested by the Romans and condemned by Pontius Pilate, prefect of the Roman province of Judea. He was then executed on the cross after suffering floggings, tortures and humiliations along the way leading him to the hill of Golgotha, laden with a heavy cross, the crown of thorns pressed on his head.
This day will be for Christians a day of deprivation in memory of the crucifixion of Jesus. Practitioners are called to abstinence and fasting or not to eat meat, because according to the Church this would be an inappropriate act. The meat being considered as a noble food which was consumed during the festivals. The fast is supposed to recall the 40 days spent in the desert by Jesus, several times tempted by the devil. Synonymous with purification among Christians, fasting is less followed among Protestants and Orthodox. What is the place of Good Friday in the Easter calendar? And its meaning? Good Friday in Alsace, Good Friday meal… More details in this file.
Good Friday 2023 takes place this Friday, April 7, two days from the Sunday of Easter, as is the case every year. This year 2023, Easter Sunday is scheduled for April 9.
Good Friday always takes place two days before the end of Lent, together with Easter Sunday. But why the hell does the date of Good Friday move so much depending on the year? As a date associated with Easter Day, it depends on the place of this religious holiday in the calendar. Did you know that Easter was fixed on the first Sunday after full moon from March 21? But whatever the year and the day on which Christians celebrate it, Good Friday remains a special date of Holy Week: the one that leads to Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday.
For Christians, Good Friday not only marks the day before the Sunday of Easter. It symbolizes the way of the cross of Jesus Christ, and therefore his crucifixion and his death. What to link it to the meanings of the appointments of the Easter Monday, Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday, commemorating different episodes in the life of Christ for believers. In the symbolism of Good Friday, there is the DNA of Christianity: the death of Christ and faith in his resurrection cement a base that unites all Christians, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. As it is a day of sadness and meditation, Catholic churches have the custom of veiling the crucifixes until the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.
The Good Friday prayer is a universal prayer. On this day, the faithful pray both for the Church, for the Pope, for the clergy and the faithful people, for the catechumens, for the unity of Christians, for the Jewish people, for other believers, for those who do not know God, for the authorities and “for our brothers in trial” in general. Different versions of Good Friday prayers also exist, including that “for the deliverance of souls from purgatory”.
Already, many families (practicing or not) do not consume meat on this day, in memory of the symbolic date of the crucifixion of Christ, in France and elsewhere. When Protestants do not give instructions for food penance, Catholics encourage fasting. For the Orthodox either, Good Friday is not especially a day of fasting. Eating fish is often in the spotlight among Catholics on Good Friday (and Friday in general). And for good reason: eating fish is “eating lean”. Some parishes invite their faithful to share even more frugal meals, such as a bowl of rice accompanied by an apple. If the fast continues a priori (we are still in the period of Lent, which will not end until the next day), it can be accompanied or replaced by various practices such as good deeds. On the menu of many Catholic school canteens, it is customary to eat only a simple bowl of rice in exchange for funds donated to charity.
Why in mainland France, Good Friday is only a holiday in Alsace and Moselle? This exception dates back to 1871, with the annexation by the German Empire of the two French territories. The Germans had then set up via an ordinance the public holiday of Good Friday, a religious holiday worked until then. When Alsace-Moselle was attached to France after 1918, local law was maintained.
If in France, Good Friday is only transformed into a holiday in Alsace and Moselle and in certain DOM / TOM where the municipalities have a Protestant or mixed church (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and French Polynesia), this moveable feast, celebrated on different dates by the different Christian Churches, nevertheless remains a public holiday in almost all countries with a Christian Protestant tradition (Germany, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, Angola, United Kingdom, New Zeeland, Switzerland)… The “Good Friday holiday” or Good Friday holiday marks the holiday character of Good Friday in many latitudes.
Why does this event mark a special date in Alsace? What anecdotes relate to it? In Alsace, Good Friday has a special meaning. On this day, the faithful rush en masse to Protestant churches. Even those who are not used to setting foot there: they are nicknamed the “Christians of Good Friday”.
They thus act against the tide of Catholics who, for their part, privilege Easter as a feast of obligation – because it represents the resurrection of Christ – and not the day-symbol of the putting to death of their Messiah. For the record, the French historian Alfred Wahl tells that in certain mixed villages of Alsace, the Catholic peasants purposely brought in the manure on Good Friday in front of their fellow citizens in their Sunday best… when the latter paid them back their own coin by working voluntarily on August 15, feast day ofAssumption.