GOOD FRIDAY

Why is Good Friday called "good", when the day commemorates the death of Jesus, the most important figure in the Christian religion?

The short answer is that it is only called that in the English language. In the Orthodox Church, it is known as Holy and Great Friday. In Germany it is called Karfreitag, meaning "mourning Friday". Here in Denmark it is "lang fredag", or long Friday. Indeed, that was apparently the name for it in Anglo-Saxon times as well.

Most people think that the current name is a bastardisation of God's Friday, in the same way as goodbye is a bastardisation of God be with ye.

The tradition of the Easter bunny (well, hare, really) is thought to come from pagan times, since hares represented the fertility and rebirth of spring. The pagan hare then got mixed up with the egg, the Christian symbol of resurrection. Which is why we have Easter egg hunts for children, to find the eggs left by the Easter bunny/hare. And for adults; I'll be taking part in one on Sunday at my sister-in-law's.

Walter Blotscher