Good Friday, also known as Great Friday, Holy Friday, or Sorrowful Friday, is a major Christian observance that commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. It is a time for Christians to reflect upon his suffering and willing sacrifice to atone for the sins of mankind. Churches may offer special services, as well as cover crosses with black cloth as a sign of mourning. For some worshippers, it is a day of fasting.
Good Friday occurs two days before Easter (which celebrates Christ’s resurrection). It is part of Holy Week, which starts with Palm Sunday and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. In certain countries, such as Canada, it is an official public holiday. In the United States, a number of states declare this a state holiday.
Traditional foods served on Good Friday include hot cross buns. These spiced sweet buns usually contain currants or raisins and are topped with icing in the shape of a cross.”
Question of the Day
Can I plant jicama in Michigan?
Probably not. Jicama requires a frost-free, nine-month growing season since it is a tropical plant. You could do it in a greenhouse, but otherwise this plant is confined to the southern regions of the U.S. It is primarily grown in Mexico, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Formosa. You would be wise to get jicama into your diet, however. It’s a cheap substitute for water chestnuts in Asian dishes, and is high in vitamins, A, B, and C, along with calcium and phosphorus.
Advice of the Day
Rub vitamin E oil into your pets’ ears to help relieve ear mites.
Home Hint of the Day
Paint a room from the top down. Start with the ceiling, do the walls next, and then work on doors, windows, and other trim. If you’re going to paint the floors, do them last.
Word of the Day
Moon on equator
The Moon is on the celestial equator.
Puzzle of the Day
A word of one syllable, easy and short, read backward and forward the same, expresses the sentiments warm from the heart, and to beauty lays principal claim.
Eye
Born
John Tyler(10th U.S. president)–
Cy Young(baseball player)–
Lou Henry Hoover(U.S. First Lady)–
Sam Walton(businessman)–
Pearl Bailey(singer)–
Judith Guest(author)–
Eric Idle(actor)–
Dennis McLain(baseball player)–
Karen Ann Quinlan(patient on life-support whose parents fought for her right to die)–
Kurt Thomas(gymnast)–
Elle Macpherson(model)–
Lucy Lawless(actress)–
Jennifer Capriati(tennis player)–
Died
Alistair Cooke(a journalist for almost 70 years, Cooke was widely known to television audiences as the master of ceremonies on the cultural program Omnibus in the 1950s and later as the host of Masterpiece Theater)–
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.(lawyer)–
Patty Duke(actress)–
Anita Shreve(writer)–
Events
First federal highway, the Great National Pike, authorized–
National Road, the first federally funded road, was authorized–
Vesta, brightest asteroid, discovered–
The first White House wedding took place. Lucy Payne Washington, sister-in-law of President James Madison, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd–
Gen. Winfield Scott formally occupied Vera Cruz, Mexico–
Due to ice jam, Niagara Falls stopped flowing for the first time in recorded history–
The first batch of Coca Cola was brewed over a fire in a backyard in Atlanta. John Pemberton created the concoction as a hangover cure, and it was advertised as brain tonic. Cocaine was an ingredient of Coke until 1904 when Congress banned it–
First performance of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus–
Sunbeam 1000 HP first car to exceed 200 mph–
Jack Benny’s radio debut–
World War II food rationing began–
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted of conspiring to convey atom bomb secrets to Soviet agents–
Ratification of the 23rd amendment to the Constitution gave residents of Washington, D.C., right to vote in presidential elections–
Lt. William Calley Jr. convicted for massacre of civilians at Mylai, S. Vietnam–
Last U.S. personnel left S. Vietnam–
After protesting—in song—that they were never featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show got their wish. A week later, the band’s single Cover of the Rolling Stone went gold–
The film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest won five Academy Awards–
Madonna made her stage debut in David Mamet’s Speed the Plow in NYC–
First Soviet hockey player signed with the NHL–
Catherine Callbeck became the first woman to be elected premier (P.E.I.) in Canada–
Tom Jones was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace–
Bono of U2 was crowned a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in an informal ceremony in the Dublin home of British Ambassador David Reddaway–
Shiveluch volcano erupted, Kamchatka, Russia–
Weather
From March 28 to 29, Washington, D.C., experienced a drop in temperature from 82F to 26F, ending an early “false spring.”–
