30 Interesting Facts to Know About Good Friday

Since Easter is a "moveable feast," Good Friday similarly shifts dates from year to year. It all comes down to the lunar calendar, specifically the first full moon to take place after the spring equinox. Good Friday is celebrated the following Friday, with Easter Sunday just after it. Good thing your calendar calculates it for you!

Some schools and banks may be closed, but Good Friday isn't actually officially observed as a federal holiday across the country. Only 12 states acknowledge Good Friday as a state holiday.

RELATED: 40+ Cheerful Crafts for Easter

For Catholics, Fridays in Lent are a day of fasting from meat, and Good Friday is no exception. This is meant to emphasize having simpler meals in solidarity with the poor. Frozen fish fingers are a classic Friday night Lenten meal.

Capybaras are adorable aquatic animals found in South America. They're the largest species of rodent in the world — but if you ask the Catholic Church, they’ll call Capybara fish. The church has ruled that capybara, beaver, and muskrat all count as fish rather than meat, so they are a-okay to eat on Fridays during Lent — if you can get over how cute they are.

Some Christians believe that Jesus was on the cross from noon until 3. During this time on Good Friday, many people pray and do a 3 hour “fast” from technology to avoid distractions during the period of Jesus’s suffering.

25% of all filet-o-fish sales happen during Lent. The sandwich originated in Ohio, when a local McDonalds owner wanted to fix struggling sales on Fridays in Lent, when the largely Catholic town wouldn’t order hamburgers.

At Good Friday prayer services, it’s common to have a cross held in front of the congregation for veneration. Instead of receiving communion, you line up to kiss or touch the cross. (A volunteer wipes the cross clean between each person.)

Many religious schools hold plays reenacting the passion of Christ or do a living stations of the cross, a series of 12 scenes of the crucifixion. While it’s adorable to see the children in costume (and a big honor to be the kid who plays Jesus!), it’s a solemn observance meant to be reflected on in silence.

These sweet treats traditionally baked on Good Friday to be enjoyed on Easter Sunday are said to be imbued with good luck. Superstitions say that buns baked on this day will never spoil, protect against shipwrecks and even shield your home from fire.

According to an old legend, people who share a hot cross bun will remain good friends for a year if they say a special rhyme while enjoying the treat: "Half for you and half for me, between us two shall goodwill be." Worth a try, as far as we're concerned.

Grab the scissors! According to superstition, getting a haircut on Good Friday prevents headaches for the rest of the year. It'll also ensure you look your best in your Easter bonnet on Sunday.

Every year, the open-air play The Passion of Jesus is put on in London's Trafalgar Square for free. If you can't make it across the pond for the occasion, watch via a live stream on Facebook.

This custom is a little different than the American custom of dyeing eggs. Before sunrise, the tradition goes that you crack an egg and add just the egg white to a glass of water. As the rising sun heats the egg, patterns form in the glass. Elders believe the way the white swirls can predict the way in which you will die.

The streets of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are decorated with alfrombras, or religious art made out of colorful sawdust.

On a particularly slow news day in 1930, BBC radio announced, "There is no news." Listeners then heard piano music for the rest of the day. Don't hold your breath for a repeat this year.

Thanks to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the Caribbean nation in 2012, the Cuban government granted his request to make Good Friday an official holiday, allowing people to stay home and observe this sacred day without taking off work.

Dancing is prohibited on this sacred holiday, forcing nightclubs to close or risk being fined £1,000 (or $1,300). In German, the name for the holiday translates as Sorrowful Friday.

Ireland celebrates Good Friday in a more optimistic way, spending the day looking out for specific signs. It's also believed that eggs laid on this day will never rot. Some people even hold onto eggs for decades just to prove the myth.

RELATED: 80+ So-Adorable Easter Egg Decorating Ideas

The Irish also have a tradition of marking eggs with a holy cross and having each family member eat one on Easter Sunday. Doing this will help bring good health and luck in the next year.

RELATED: 30+ Delicious Ways to Make Deviled Eggs

For almost a century, Ireland banned alcohol sales on Good Friday. Lifting this longtime Christian tradition was good news for the economy as tourism traditionally peaks during Easter week. Cheers to planning ahead for Sunday celebrations!

RELATED: 26 Easter Appetizers That Are Gloriously Easy to Make