FOR SOME, IT is a day of abstaining – from meat and from alcohol. For others, it is a day off to enjoy the start of spring (or the last days of winter).
For the Christian community, there are many pilgrimages and re-enactments to participate in, while others use it as an opportunity for good deeds or extra training.
Here’s a taste of how people across the globe spent their Good Friday.
A bad day for butchers?
Jim Smith and Rita Mulvany had a busy day at Kish Fish shop on Bow Street in Dublin. (Image: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)
But not everyone abstained. Conor Leonard, here, enjoyed a good burger at the Galway Food Festival this afternoon. Fair play! (Image: Boyd Challenger/Photocall Ireland!)
Bonkers for Bressie
Brown Thomas was full of frenzied young Irish women today as Mullingar musician Bressie signed copies of his new album Rage and Romance. (Image: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland!)
Lost your marbles?
Mourad Kara of the Yorkshire Meds team plays a shot as his team compete in the annual World Marble Championships at Tinsley Green in Crawley, England.
And here’s a close up. (Images: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
A hard day
Ducks walk in the snow near Britain’s highest pub, the Tan Hill Inn, which opened for the first time in nine days today. (Image: Dave Thompson/PA Wire)
Cambridge University carry their boat out for a training session on the River Thames, London, ahead of the annual Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race this Sunday. (Image: Adam Davy/PA Wire)
Cyclists head out on a cycle path through the snow in North Yorkshire. (Image: Dave Thompson/PA Wire)
Good deeds
Former US Army Sergeant Donna Pratt, left, is helped up a hill by Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride coordinator Carlos Garzon, against the backdrop of Stone Mountain, the largest exposed granite rock face in North America. About 50 riders, some on modified bicycles, took part in the cycling event to help injured service members in their recovery process, raise awareness for their ongoing needs, and engage community support. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Former US Army Special Lucas Benson, of Dallas, Texas, shows his tattoo to a fellow service member before embarking on the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
The Stations
Alexandra and Emily McNeilage take part in the re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross in the John the Baptist Church in Clontarf today. (Image: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland!)
An India Christian devotee reenacts the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the occasion of Good Friday in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
The Wintershall Players perform the Passion of Jesus in Trafalgar Square, London. (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)
With Easter approaching, the Family Life Church of God in Archer, Florida, has men re-enacting the crucifixion of Christ by standing on crosses as part their celebration for the religious weekend. In the mornings, the young men take 15-minute turns on the crosses and later as the weather warms they lengthen the stay to an hour. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Old traditions
Constable Jarrett and school teacher Miss Burke enjoy the traditional Egg Dance during Good Friday, at Blists Hill, Victoria Town, Ironbridge, Shropshire. (Image: Rui Vieira/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
Pilgrims walk with crosses as the Northern Cross pilgrimage makes its final leg of the journey to Holy Island, Berwick Upon Tweed, England. For more than 30 years, groups of pilgrims celebrate Easter by crossing the tidal causeway during the annual pilgrimage to Holy Island. They walk around 100 miles through Northumberland and the Scottish Borders during Holy Week. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell).
A foot with a chain of a masked penitent from La Santa Vera Cruz brotherhood, seen as he walks walks along the way taking part in an Easter procession known as ‘Los Picaos’ in the small village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, northern Spain. Penitents, or disciplinants, take part on the procession lashing themselves as an act of faith and penance, a tradition dating from the early 16th century. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, Sao Paulo’s archbishop, takes part in a Way of the Cross procession in a low income neighbourhood known as “Crackland” in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil. Written in the cross are names of homeless killed in the city’s streets recently. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
A day of prayer
Pope Francis blesses the Holy Host during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican. (Image: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pilgrims cross from Beal sands to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland during the annual Christian Easter pilgrimage on Good Friday. (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
Thousands of Bangladeshi attend Friday prayers during a meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
A worshipper atop a hill overlooking Johannesburg offers Good Friday prayers and prayers for the quick recovery of former president Nelson Mandela. (Image: AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
A nun and a monk rush to have a front place to attend Pope Francis’ Via Crucis, traditional Way of the Cross Procession, at Rome’s ancient Colosseum. (Image: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Preparation
Tranmere Rovers’ fans before the game against Sheffield United. (Image: Barrington Coombs/EMPICS Sport)
Others spent the day preparing for the weekend ahead: Roman Piekarski made a start to changing the time on more than 600 clocks at his Cuckooland Museum in Tabley, Cheshire before time jumps forward an hour on Sunday morning. (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say