"No, it's Good Friday, they need the church for churchy things."
"Well! That's not good. I'm going to call it Bad Friday from now on. Why is it called Good Friday anyway?"
This was a conversation I had last week and I've been thinking about the final question all week. What is good about this Friday. Having spent my life on the edge of Christianity (musicians tend to hang around churches) I've always struggled a bit with Easter. I know it's probably the most important festival because without the crucifixion and the empty tomb Jesus was probably just a man of questionable parentage but it's such a sad and violent story and I get a bit stuck on the crucifixion bit and struggle to believe that the empty tomb was anything more than a woman's grief and grave robbing. In our modern Britain, we seem to have forgotten the horror of the day. Good Friday has become all about an unexpected day off and Marks and Spencer Toffee Fudge and Belgian Hot Cross Buns and I wonder if it's because it's so inappropriately named. It is possible that Good is just an accident as it was originally known as God's Friday, which would probably make a bit more sense.
Good Friday is a story of brutality and genocide. The Romans crucified hundreds of thousands of (mainly) Jews and crucifixion was a horrible way to die. Pilate had 2000 Jews crucified in one hit. They were beaten and stripped naked, made to carry their own cross and then nailed to it by their hands and feet and left for up to a week to die a slow painful death, while people paraded around their naked humiliation shouting insults. Christians used to treat it as a day of mourning; the day their God died.They would fast (except for the spiced fruit roll piped with a cross) There would be processions, no newspapers, no racing and the BBC would go into purple solemnity; playing Bach's St Matthew's Passion. Today, we are so far removed from the meaning of the day that local councils have refused permission for Churches to perform 'The Passion of Christ' because they thought it might be pornography.
I agree with this man's son and I hope that, as a choirboy, they will listen to him.
I'm going to start my Bad Friday with a slightly burnt hot cross bun, which is quite bad, as I've been avoiding wheat in an attempt to feel less sluggish. Today may turn out to be Sluggish Friday.
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| Paul Hollywood's Hot Cross Bun Recipe - burnt due to piano practice. |
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