ObservanceFriday, March 26, 2027
Good Friday
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Good Friday is the Friday before Easter, the day Christians commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and the one day in the year on which the Catholic Church celebrates no Mass. It is not a federal holiday in the United States, although the stock exchanges close for it and eleven states treat it as a holiday of some kind — which makes it one of the harder days on the American calendar to sum up in a sentence.
History
Christians kept Friday as a fast from the earliest times, and by the late fourth century Jerusalem had a Good Friday liturgy detailed enough that we can still read a description of it. Egeria, a pilgrim whose account is dated to roughly 381 to 384, records a chair set for the bishop at Golgotha behind the Cross and pilgrims filing past to touch the wood and the titulus with their foreheads and then their eyes. "The emotion shown and the mourning by all the people at every lesson and prayer is wonderful," she wrote. The veneration of the cross began there and entered the Latin liturgy in the seventh or eighth century.
The date follows Easter, and Easter follows the Council of Nicaea of 325, which acted to put the whole Church on one Sunday. The familiar formula — the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox — is how the Church later worked the rule out rather than a quotation from Nicaea, and its moon is a tabulated ecclesiastical one, not the astronomical moon.
The day also has a history worth stating rather than skipping. The Good Friday intercessions long carried a prayer describing the Jews as perfidis, and the kneeling that accompanied every other intercession was omitted for that one. The day was physically dangerous for Jews in medieval Europe, where Jewish houses were commonly attacked with stones. Pope John XXIII dropped perfidis from the Latin prayer in 1959, though the 1962 missal still spoke of the Jews' blindness and their conversion. In 1965 Nostra Aetate held that Christ's passion "cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction" nor against the Jews of today, and decried antisemitism "at any time and by anyone." The prayer has been reworded since; it still asks that Jewish hearts be illuminated to recognize Christ, and still troubles many.
Timeline
- 325 — The First Council of Nicaea acts to put the whole Church on a single Easter Sunday, fixing Good Friday as the Friday before it.
- c. 381–384 — Egeria, a pilgrim to Jerusalem, leaves the earliest detailed description of a Good Friday liturgy: the bishop's chair at Golgotha and the veneration of the cross.
- Good Friday 1727 — Bach's St Matthew Passion is first heard at St Thomas's Church in Leipzig, written for Good Friday vespers.
- 1959 — Pope John XXIII drops the word perfidis from the Latin Good Friday prayer for the Jewish people.
- October 28, 1965 — Paul VI promulgates Nostra Aetate, holding that the passion cannot be charged against the Jews as a people and decrying antisemitism by anyone.
How to observe
The central service is the Celebration of the Lord's Passion, normally about three in the afternoon and never later than nine at night. It is not a Mass. The celebrant and deacon prostrate themselves in silence to begin; all three readings, including the Passion according to John, are required; the priest is first to venerate the cross; and Communion comes from the sacrament reserved the day before. For Catholics between 18 and 59 this is the second of the year's two obligatory fast days, with abstinence from meat from age 14.
Beyond the liturgy there is the Three Hour Service between noon and three, a Jesuit-introduced meditation on the seven last words, and the Stations of the Cross, which began with pilgrims tracing the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. The day also carries the collection for the Holy Land, established by Paul VI in 1974 to maintain the sacred sites and support local Christian communities.
Frequently asked questions
Is Good Friday a federal holiday?
No. The eleven federal holidays are set by 5 U.S.C. 6103, and Good Friday is not among them. The Federal Reserve does not observe it either, so banks are generally open.
Then why is the stock market closed?
The exchanges set their own calendars, and the NYSE and Nasdaq both close. The bond market follows a SIFMA recommendation that varies year to year — a full close in 2025, an early close at noon in 2026 — and even those are advisory only.
Which states observe Good Friday?
Eleven, and not in the same way: statutory in Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina and North Dakota; a statutory half day in Kentucky; observed in Hawaii, New Jersey and Tennessee; designated by the governor in Connecticut; optional in Texas, where offices stay open.
Why is it called "Good" Friday?
Nobody is certain, and the reference works decline to settle it. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia says plainly that "the origin of the term Good is not clear," offering either a corruption of "God's Friday" or "good" in the older sense of holy. Other languages sidestep it: Holy Friday in the Romance languages, Sorrowful Friday in German.
Do Orthodox Christians keep the same day?
Usually not, because the Eastern churches reckon Pascha on the Julian calendar. In 2027 the two are five weeks apart — the maximum — with Western Good Friday on March 26 and Orthodox Pascha on May 2. In 2028 they coincide.
When is Good Friday?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | March 26 | Friday |
| 2028 | April 14 | Friday |
| 2029 | March 30 | Friday |
| 2030 | April 19 | Friday |
| 2031 | April 11 | Friday |
Sources
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Roman Missal and the Celebration of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/triduum/roman-missal-and-the-good-friday-liturgy → the Missal's rubric that only Anointing of the Sick and Penance are celebrated on Good Friday and Holy Saturday; the prostration in silence to begin; the four parts of the liturgy; the priest as first to venerate the cross; Communion brought from the place of reposition.
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Questions on the Sacred Paschal Triduum — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/triduum/questions-and-answers → the Eucharist not being celebrated on Good Friday; all three readings including the Passion according to John being required with none omitted; the liturgy normally at about 3:00 PM and never later than 9:00 PM.
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Easter Triduum — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/triduum → the Triduum running from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday.
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Information on Lenten Fast and Abstinence — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/lent/catholic-information-on-lenten-fast-and-abstinence → Good Friday and Ash Wednesday as the two obligatory days of fasting and abstinence; fasting from age 18 until 59; abstinence from meat from age 14; the paschal fast continued through Holy Saturday to the Easter Vigil.
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Stations of the Cross — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/prayers-devotions/stations → the fourteen stations; the practice beginning with pilgrims tracing Jesus's path on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.
- U.S. Code, 5 U.S.C. 6103, via the U.S. Government Publishing Office — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title5/html/USCODE-2024-title5-partIII-subpartE-chap61-subchapI-sec6103.htm → the eleven legal public holidays, which do not include Good Friday.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Holidays Observed by the Federal Reserve System 2026–2030 — https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/k8.htm → the Federal Reserve's eleven observed holidays, which do not include Good Friday.
- New York Stock Exchange, Holidays and Trading Hours — https://www.nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars → Good Friday as a full NYSE closure, including March 26, 2027 and April 14, 2028.
- Nasdaq, Equity Trader Alert 2026-17 — https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/TraderNews.aspx?id=eta2026-17 → Nasdaq U.S. equities and options markets closed for Good Friday.
- SIFMA, Fixed income market close recommendations for Good Friday 2026 — https://www.sifma.org/news/press-releases/sifma-fixed-income-market-close-recommendations-in-the-u-s-the-u-k-and-japan-for-good-friday-easter-monday-holidays-2026 → the recommended early close at noon on Good Friday 2026; recommendations being advisory only.
- SIFMA, Recommended market closes for Good Friday 2025 — https://www.sifma.org/news/press-releases/sifma-recommends-an-early-market-close-on-april-17-and-a-full-market-close-on-april-18-in-the-u-s-in-observance-of-good-friday-2025 → the full close recommended for Good Friday 2025, showing the year-to-year variation.
- Delaware Code, 1 Del. C. 501 — https://delcode.delaware.gov/title1/c005/ → Good Friday as a statutory Delaware holiday.
- Kentucky Revised Statutes 18A.190 — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=1386 → Good Friday as a statutory one-half day in Kentucky.
- Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:55 — https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=74097 → Good Friday as a statutory Louisiana holiday.
- North Carolina General Statutes 103-4 — https://www.ncleg.gov/enactedlegislation/statutes/pdf/bysection/chapter_103/gs_103-4.pdf → Good Friday as a North Carolina public holiday.
- North Carolina Office of State Human Resources, 2026 Holiday Schedule — https://oshr.nc.gov/2026-holiday-schedule/open → Good Friday as a state-employee holiday, confirming closure rather than designation alone.
- North Dakota Century Code 1-03-01 — https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t01c03.pdf → "The Friday next preceding Easter Sunday and commonly known as Good Friday" as a North Dakota holiday.
- Hawaii Department of Human Resources Development, State Holidays 2027–2028 — https://dhrd.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/State-Holidays-2027-2028-1.pdf → Good Friday as a Hawaii state holiday on March 26, 2027 and April 14, 2028.
- State of New Jersey, State Holidays — https://www.nj.gov/nj/about/facts/holidays.shtml → Good Friday as an observed New Jersey state holiday.
- State of Tennessee, State Holidays — https://www.tn.gov/about-tn/state-holidays.html → Good Friday as an observed Tennessee state holiday.
- Connecticut, Legal State Holidays — https://portal.ct.gov/about/legal-state-holidays → Good Friday observed in Connecticut under holidays designated by the governor rather than the statutory list.
- Indiana State Personnel Department, 2026 Holidays Memorandum — https://www.in.gov/spd/benefits/files/2026-Holidays-Memorandum.pdf → Good Friday as an Indiana state holiday.
- Texas State Auditor's Office, State Holiday Schedule FY2026 — https://hr.sao.texas.gov/Documents/Holidays/Holidays2026.pdf → Good Friday listed as an optional holiday in Texas, with agencies not closed.
- Metzl v. Leininger, 57 F.3d 618 (7th Cir. 1995), opinion text — https://openjurist.org/57/f3d/618 → the Seventh Circuit striking down Illinois's Good Friday public-school closure for want of a secular justification.
- Bridenbaugh v. O'Bannon (7th Cir. 1999), opinion text — https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1147970.html → the Seventh Circuit upholding Indiana's Good Friday holiday, finding secular purposes chiefly in providing a spring holiday.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Good Friday — https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06643a.htm → "The origin of the term Good is not clear," with the God's Friday and gute Freitag explanations; Holy Friday in the Romance languages, Sorrowful Friday in German, Long Friday in Anglo-Saxon and still used in Denmark; Christians keeping every Friday as a fast from the earliest times; Egeria's description of the Jerusalem ceremony; the veneration of the cross originating in Jerusalem and entering the Latin liturgy in the seventh or eighth century; the omission of the kneeling in the prayer for the Jews.
- The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: Egeria — https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/egeria/ → Egeria's accounts dated to about 381–384; the Good Friday veneration of the cross and the service from noon to three.
- Biblical Archaeology Society, The Veneration of the Cross in Jerusalem: An Early Pilgrim's Account — https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/sidebar/the-veneration-of-the-cross-in-jerusalem-an-early-pilgrims-account/ → Egeria, Travels 37.1–7, on pilgrims touching the cross and the titulus with forehead and eyes, and "The emotion shown and the mourning by all the people at every lesson and prayer is wonderful."
- United States Naval Observatory, The Date of Easter — https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/easter → the Council of Nicaea deciding to keep Easter on the same Sunday throughout the Christian world; Easter as the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after the vernal equinox; the ecclesiastical rather than astronomical moon; the equinox fixed at March 21; Easter never before March 22 or after April 25; the Eastern churches' Julian reckoning.
- United States Naval Observatory, Christian Observances service — https://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/christian_observances → Good Friday on March 26, 2027 with Easter on March 28, 2027, and Good Friday on April 14, 2028 with Easter on April 16, 2028.
- Orthodox Church in America, Lenten and Paschal Cycle — https://www.oca.org/fs/paschal-cycle → Orthodox Pascha on May 2, 2027 and April 16, 2028, giving the five-week divergence in 2027 and the coincidence in 2028.
- Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate, promulgated by Paul VI October 28, 1965 — https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html → the passion not being charged "against all the Jews, without distinction" nor against the Jews of today; the decrying of "hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone."
- Joanne M. Pierce, Why parts of Good Friday worship have been controversial, Religion News Service, March 31, 2021 — https://religionnews.com/2021/03/31/why-parts-of-good-friday-worship-have-been-controversial/ → the wording implying an antisemitic meaning; John XXIII dropping perfidis from the Latin prayer in 1959; the 1962 missal still mentioning conversion and blindness; the reworded prayer still asking that hearts be illuminated to recognize Jesus Christ, and continuing to trouble many.
- Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Why Good Friday was dangerous for Jews in the Middle Ages and how that changed, The Conversation — https://theconversation.com/why-good-friday-was-dangerous-for-jews-in-the-middle-ages-and-how-that-changed-114896 → Jewish houses commonly attacked with stones on Good Friday in medieval Europe.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Three Hour Service — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Three-Hour-Service → the service between noon and 3 pm, the meditation on the seven last words, and its introduction to the Catholic liturgy by the Jesuits.
- Holy See Press Office, Good Friday Collection 2026 — https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/info/2026/02/20/260220b.html → the collection established at the behest of Paul VI, proposed in the 1974 apostolic exhortation Nobis in Animo, used to preserve the sacred sites and support local Christian communities.
- NPR, A Visitor's Guide to Bach's St. Matthew Passion — https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/04/17/298773771/a-visitors-guide-to-bachs-st-matthew-passion → Bach writing the St Matthew Passion for Good Friday vesper services, first heard on Good Friday 1727 at St Thomas's Church in Leipzig.
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