Good Friday, the most somber day of the year, is a day of solemn church services centering on the Death of Christ. In homes where Easter preparations are well underway, music is not played and an atmosphere of reverence is maintained.
    Many hours are spent in devotion at church. The altar is bare, the services--for the only time of the Church year--do not include the Consecration of the Host, symbolizing the desolation of the world without God. Services include the distinctive Veneration of the Cross, in which the crucifix is either carried into the church or unveiled, and then venerated or kissed by the faithful. In many parishes, the crucifix is borne by men of the parish and carried throughout the streets which were the path of Palm Sunday's joyous procession. This funeral procession in the streets is accompanied by alter boys wielding special wooden clappers (klekotki, grzechotki) rhythmically ringing out the nailing of Jesus to the Cross. The sorrowful mood is enhanced by such plaintive hymns as "Ludu, moj ludu" and "W Krzyzu cierpienie." 

* View the Good Friday procession at St. Helen's Parish, Chicago
         & hear the faithful chanting "Ludu, moj ludu" (Video)
* Stills of Good Friday Procession at St. Helen's Parish
* Listen / Sheet music for "Ludu, moj ludu"
* View the klekotki clapped in procession by altar boys (Video)
* Still of Klekotki in procession
* View the procession as faithful sing "W Krzyzu cierpienie" 
      ("On the Cross suffering") (Video)
* Listen / Sheet music for "W Krzyzu cierpienie"
* Crucifix in a Polish-American Church
* 15th Century Chasuble embroidered with Crucifixion scene
* Listen to Chopin's Stabat Mater
* Pol/Eng Text and Music Selections from Szymanowski's Stabat Mater
* Lat/Eng Text and Music Excerpt from Penderecki's Passion of St. Luke
* Sheet music for "U stop krzyza" (At the Foot of the Cross)

Grob Panski, Bozy Grob * Grave of the Lord

    On Good Friday, the violet draping is removed from the Crucifix, which is displayed for public veneration, and a tableau of Christ's Tomb is unveiled. Many of the faithful spend long hours into the night grieving at the Tomb, where it is customary to kiss the wounds on the Lord's body. A life-size figure of Christ lying in His tomb is widely visited by the faithful, especially on Holy Saturday. The tableaux may include flowers, candles, figures of angels standing watch, the three crosses atop Mt. Calvary and much more. Each parish strives to come up with the most artistically and religiously evocative arrangement in which the Blessed Sacrament, draped in a filmy veil, is prominently displayed.

* See the Bernardine Tomb in Krakow
* View the tomb at St. Helen's Parish, Chicago
* Tarnow painting: Jesus Removed from the Cross (Oplakiwanie)
* Dla Dzieci / For Kids: Holy Tomb to Print & Color
* Listen to: Dobranoc, Glowo Swiete ("Good night, holy head")
* Listen to a 16th century Polish Passion motet:
     Krzyzu swiety i chwalebny ("Holy and Glorious Cross" ca. 1558)
* Listen to Andrzej Rohaczewski's 17th century Crucifixus Surrexit

External Links:
* Good Friday prayer for small children (in English)
* A complete website on the Passion (history, devotion, archeology)
* Historical & archeological website on the Tomb of Jesus