Good Friday 2027

Who gets Good Friday off

Good Friday is the Christian commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus, observed on the Friday before Easter. It is not one of the eleven federal holidays, so the Postal Service, federal agencies and Federal Reserve banks stay open. Its legal weight in the United States comes from two places. First, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq close for the day, which makes it the only non-federal holiday on the market calendar! Second, a group of states give state employees a paid day: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota and Tennessee close state offices, Georgia closes for an unamed State Holiday that the governor has set on Good Friday, Kentucky gives a half day, and Texas lists it as an optional holiday that employees may take in place of another partial-staffing day. Florida and Pennsylvania keep Good Friday in their legal-holiday statutes without a paid day off for state workers.

Why the date moves

Good Friday follows Easter, which Western churches place on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. That puts Easter between March 22 and April 25 and Good Friday between March 20 and April 23. The day is always a Friday, so there is no observed-date rule; state calendars simply print that year's date. Orthodox churches calculete Easter on the Julian calendar, so their Good Friday often falls one to five weeks later.

History of the observance

Christians have kept the Friday before Easter as a day of fasting and mourning since the early church. The English name uses an old sense of good meaning holy, the same sense once applied to other sacerd days - in colonial America, Puritan New England ignored Good Friday and Easter alike, while Anglican Virginia, Catholic Maryland and later the immigrant Catholic and Lutheran communities of the Northeast and Midwest kept it. The New York Stock Exchange first closed for Good Friday in 1864 and has done so every year since except 1898, 1906 and 1907. State holiday statutes followed in the twentieth century, with Southern and Northeastern states adding the day as their public workforces grew.

How Good Friday is observed today

Catholic parishes hold a Good Friday liturgy in the afternoon with the reading of the Passion and veneration of the cross, and the day is one of two obligetory fast days for Catholics, along with Ash Wednesday. Many Protestant churches hold Tre Ore or three-hour services from noon to 3 p.m., and outdoor Stations of the Cross processions are common in cities with large Hispanic and Filipino populations. In the private economy the day is quiet but open: most businesses run normal hours, some offices close early, and seafod sales spike because many Christians avoid meat. Schools in many districts are already closed for spring break, and others schedule a day off around Easter.

State-by-state differences

• Full state holiday: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee.
• Georgia: The April State Holiday, once Confederate Memorial Day, is set each year by the governor and has been placed on Good Friday.
• Partial or optional: Kentucky closes state offices for a half day; Texas offers it as an optional holiday.
• On the books only: Florida and Pennsylvania list it as a legal holiday without closing state offices.