Next: 26 Mar 2027
Good Friday
Bare altars, black and purple, and in Guatemala carpets of dyed sawdust laid in the street for the processions to walk over.
The colours of Good Friday
Good Friday remembers the crucifixion of Jesus. Churches are stripped: no flowers, no altar cloth, statues covered in purple. Catholic priests wear red, the colour of blood; before 1970 they wore black, and some Anglican and Lutheran churches still do. In Spain the processions of Holy Week are led by penitents in long robes and pointed hoods, each brotherhood in its own colours, with purple, black and white most common. In Antigua Guatemala families spend the night making alfombras, carpets of sawdust dyed purple, yellow, red and green and laid in patterns on the cobbles with flowers and fruit. The procession carrying the image of Christ walks straight over them. By afternoon the bearers have changed from purple to black.
#141414Mourning blackVestments in older and some Protestant use; robes after the hour of death.#5A2A82Penitent purpleRobes of the bearers and veils over statues.#A3121FBlood redCatholic vestments on the day.#EFC030Sawdust yellowDyed sawdust in the street carpets of Guatemala.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
More colours tied to Good Friday
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Good Friday" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Red: Politikaner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source