Why Do we Call it Good Friday?

Today, March 21, is Good Friday, the Friday that preceeds Easter Sunday. For Christians around the world, Good Friday is a day of solemn day of reflection and sacrifice. It marks the day over 2000 years ago when Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to a cross and allowed to die a slow and agonizing death. Why then, when there was little good to be found on that day so long ago, do we call the day “Good Friday”?

The occasion is not called “Good Friday” all around the world. Latin countries, and most predominently Catholic ones, call the day “Holy Friday.” The Germans call it “Karfreitag,” which translates to “day of mourning.” Only Dutch and English-speaking countries call it “Good Friday.”

There are two schools of thought as to how the day came by its name. One maintains that “good” is actually a derivation of the Old English and Dutch words for “God” and that the day is actually “God’s Friday.”

The other reasoning holds that “Good” is how the events are seen by Christians through the lens of the resurrection and Easter Sunday, that by knowing the end of the story, the events of Good Friday become “good.”

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