Good Friday Bank Holiday 2030

What is remembered
Good Friday marks the crucifixion of Jesus and is the most solemn day in the Christian year. It falls on the Friday of Holy Week, two days before Easter Sunday, and is kept with services of the Passion rather than a celebratory mass.

The name
The 'good' in Good Friday comes from an older sense of the word meaning holy or pious, the same sense preserved in 'the good book'. German takes the opposite approach with Karfreitag, from the Old High German kara, meaning lament or mourning. Danish and Norwegian call it langfredag, the Long Friday, which is what Old English called it too. Dutch, like English, keeps the positive form in Goede Vrijdag.

Older than the bank holidays
Good Friday and Christmas Day were left out of the England, Wales and Ireland list in the Bank Holidays Act 1871. They were already common law holidays there, kept as days off by custom long before Parliament took an interest, so there was nothing to legislate. The Scottish list in the same Act did name both, because in Scotland custom gave them no such hold.

Scotland is different in practice
Good Friday is a bank holiday across the UK, but in Scotland public holidays are largely set by local authorities and individual employers, so a great many Scots work as normal. Easter Monday, by contrast, is not a Scottish bank holiday at all.

Customs
Hot cross buns are eaten on the morning, fish replaces meat at the table, and churches hold three-hour devotions between noon and three. The date moves with Easter, so Good Friday can fall anywhere between 20 March and 23 April.

UK bank holidays 2030