this week christians observe holy week, a celebration of the passion and resurrection of jesus christ that marks the end of the 40 day season of spiritual preparation known as lent. every day of holy week is also known as holy. for example, jesus celebrated the last supper (NOT the last dinner) with his disciples on holy thursday.
the last supper: jesus shares a final meal with his disciples
the one holy week exception is good friday, the day jesus was crucified and died. it is the subject of this video from the where jesus talks with one of his disciples (followers) about what happened on that fateful (big impact) weekend. but for christians it is a good friday because they believe that jesus’ extreme death followed by his resurrection on easter sunday took away their sins.
the day after good friday is holy saturday, NOT saturday of glory a direct translation of sábado de gloria as it is known in spanish.
jesus’ resurrection is celebrated by christians on easter (etsy.com)
in my experience, good friday is the most important day of holy week celebrations in mexico while easter is the culmination of the holiday in the u.s. the name easter (pascua in spanish) evolved from the germanic/anglo-saxon goddess of fertility, eostre; and farther back in history than that, the akkadian goddess of fertility ishtar. the most typical commercial icons of the easter celebration, easter eggs and the easter bunny are likely remnants (what still remains) of older celebrations of spring (the season) and these fertility goddesses. not everybody agrees on this.
ishtar was also the name of an unpopular 1987 movie starring dustin hoffman and warren beatty
is good friday a good name for the day jesus was crucified? is saturday of glory, or maybe glorious saturday a better name than holy saturday? post any comments, questions, feelings or inspirations under leave a reply
