| Easter Friday | |
|---|---|
| Observed by | Christendom |
| Type | Christian |
| Observances | church services |
| Date | sixth day ofEastertide |
| 2024 date |
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| 2025 date |
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| 2026 date |
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| 2027 date |
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Easter Friday, orBright Friday, is the sixth day in theChristian season ofEastertide. At times, this name has been confused withGood Friday,[1] which falls a week earlier.
Since thedate of Easter is calculated differently by Eastern and Western Christians, the date of the Western Churches' Easter Friday is often different from the Eastern Bright Friday. In Western Christianity, Easter Friday is also the sixth day of theOctave of Easter.[2]
In theRoman Catholic Church,Lutheran Churches and someAnglican Churches, Easter Friday falls within theOctave of Easter.[2] The date of Easter Friday changes from year to year, following the changing date ofEaster Week. Since Easter Sunday falls between March 22 and April 25, it follows that Easter Friday falls between March 27 and April 30. Occurrence in March is relatively uncommon, with the most recent occurrence having been March 28, 2008 and the next occurrence to be March 30, 2035.
The dates for the current decade are as follows:
In theEastern Orthodox Church and theEastern Catholic Churches which follow theByzantine Rite, this day is referred to as "Bright Friday". All of the services forPascha (Easter) are repeated every day ofBright Week (Easter Week), except for thehymns from theOctoechos. On Bright Friday, the Resurrection hymns from the Octoechos are taken fromTone Six.
In addition to the Paschal hymns,propers in honour of theTheotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "Life-giving Spring" are chanted on Bright Friday, and there is customarily aLesser Blessing of Waters.
Because the date of Pascha is movable, Bright Friday is a part of thePaschal cycle, and changes from year to year.Eastern Christianity calculates the date of Easter differently from the West (seeComputus for details). In 2019 it fell on May 3 (April 20Old Style), in 2020 it fell on April 24 (April 11) and in 2021 it fell on May 7 (April 24).