Christmas and Easter can be subjects for poetry, but Good Friday, like Auschwitz, cannot. The reality is so horrible it is not surprising that people should have found it a stumbling block to faith,” said the poet WH Auden. This gloom over the sacrifice of Jesus has kept the spirit of the religious occasion intact. This year too, Doon valley joins the rest of the world on March 29 to commemorate Good Friday as a time to reflect on Biblical teachings to bring about change and add meaning to lives.
Good Friday is set to be observed by the Christian community of the valley with tradition.
After days of fasting and abstinence, on Friday morning devotees will throng the churches of Dehradun and Mussoorie for special prayer services and narratives from the four gospels. St Francis, Methodist, St Paul’s, St John’s and CNI Memorial are prominent places of worship in the region.
In some churches a special sour-tasting sacred drink will be served after the prayer service. Pastors read out the seven reflections of Jesus given on Good Friday and recount the suffering of Jesus on the cross calling upon members to live by His teachings and to alleviate suffering from the world. A lath of wood, symbolising the cross on which Jesus was crucified is exhibited in churches which the followers come and kiss. This ritual is followed by a special prayer service usually from noon to 3 pm after which a general communion service is held at midnight.
In some churches, mourning followers clad in black carry out a procession holding a picture of Christ.
As shared by senior priest Reverend Sunil luke, president of Christian Solidarity Society, “The entire one week before Easter is significant. Good Friday and Easter together form the foundation of Christianity. Good Friday marks the end of lent, a 14- day period of fasting, prayer and penance. Fasting and other forms of renunciation are methods of following the example of Jesus who fasted for 40 days in the desert before he began his preaching. Jesus’ resurrection is celebrated on the following Sunday according to the Gregorian calendar in Western Churches and the Julian calendar in the orthodox churches. On this Good Friday may we bear in mind the true spirit of Easter, “For when He was on the cross, I was on His mind.”