# Good Friday Attire



## JLibourel (Jun 13, 2004)

Although I have not been a regular churchgoer in recent years, I do like attend a Traditional Anglican service on some of the major holy days. (I say "Traditional Anglican" in distinction from the "mainstream" Episcopal Church, about which I won't vent my opinions in the interests of not injecting religious controversy into a clothing forum.) In recent years, my customary practice is to dress for a Good Friday service much as if I were attending a funeral, always wearing my dark charcoal pinstripe as being the most somber and funereal of my garments together with a white shirt, dark tie and black shoes. How do others of you dress for this solemn day? Does "funeral attire" strike you as being the most appropriate?


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## Concordia (Sep 30, 2004)

Sounds reasonable to me. I don't know that mourning _per se _ is quite the right stance-- no Good Friday ==> no Easter -- but it is definitely a serious occasion.

Bear in mind that it's not my club, so I don't make the rules.


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## Will (Jun 15, 2004)

A stroller might find opportunity on Good Friday as well as Easter.


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Fortuna elegantes adiuvit.


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## bigCat (Jun 10, 2005)

I think that you are right on by choosing somber funeral attire for Good Friday service. The service symbolizes death and practically includes a burial ceremony, and dress should definitely be polar opposite from Easter Sunday.

-Ex falso quodlibet-


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## chat_chapeau (Dec 2, 2005)

Makes sense to this old-school Catholic.


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## Joe Frances (Sep 1, 2004)

As a traditional Catholic, I think dressing appropriately for religious services an important part of witnessing. I wore a dark blue suit, white shirt and my standard dark purple small dot Lenten tie this evening to Maundy Thursday Holy Mass. Tomorrow, much the same, but a gray suit and different purple tie. Easter will reflect the joyous nature of the Celebration. Greatings to our Traditional Anglican brother.


Joe


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

I'm Russian Orthodox and our communicants are, perhaps, a bit more sober in our Easter dress than are our western Christian counterparts. Not that we don't celebrate as joyously as they; we just tend toward a darker palette. However, I love the western tradition of Easter clothes, so I am glad that our Easters are usually on different weeks. This year, our Easter isn't until April 23rd, so I can attend a western service this Sunday in all my Easter finery, and my Russian service next week. 

I usually try St.Thomas on 5th Avenue in NY, the very heart of Easter Parade country. This year I'm wearing a featherweight (almost handkerchief weight) linen suit (I hope it's warm enough) in natural with white pinstripes, a just slightly off-white Burberry 140s Sea Island cotton shirt with a pale blue Paul Stuart tie and an off-white pocket square which picks up the blue of the tie in the border. This is bounded at the bottom with my new tan/white spectators and 3-tone natural socks by Pantherella, and at the top with a vintage Brooks Brothers Panama hat. Next Sunday it's back to darks.

Train your eye! Then train your brain to trust your eye.


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## jml90 (Dec 7, 2005)

I say a purple tie would be a good choice because of the lenten colors.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by jml90_
> 
> I say a purple tie would be a good choice because of the lenten colors.


I'm saving the purple tie for my Easter next week.

Train your eye! Then train your brain to trust your eye.


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## Trimmer (Nov 2, 2005)

The (Anglican)liturgical colour for Good Friday is actually red, which would not, of course, be worn at a funeral. 

For this reason I think it would not be appropriate to dress exactly as one would at a funeral (not, for example, a black suit and white shirt). 

I think a dark blue suit would be appropriate.

This discussion raises for me the question of the extent to which the members of the congregation might reflect the liturgical colours in their dress.

Trimmer


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## Financier (Mar 6, 2006)

Can't say I've ever thought about it that way. I'm wearing a pretty typical workday outfit - charcoal suit, white shirt with faint blue checks, and a conservative striped tie. Incorporating liturgical colors into my wardrobe strikes me as wrong, although I can't quite say why. 

Off to the "mainstream" Episcopal Church I go.


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## jml90 (Dec 7, 2005)

I don't understand the "funeral attire"


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## Concordia (Sep 30, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by jml90_
> 
> I don't understand the "funeral attire"


Well, there was this guy who died...


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## JLibourel (Jun 13, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Trimmer_
> 
> The (Anglican)liturgical colour for Good Friday is actually red, which would not, of course, be worn at a funeral.
> 
> ...


Among Traditional Anglicans, the liturgical color, both on the vestments and the ordo calendar is black.


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## Trimmer (Nov 2, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by JLibourel_
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Is 'Traditional Anglican' a denomination?


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## Financier (Mar 6, 2006)

Liturical colors can get confusing during the lenten season. Purple is most commonly used, although the use of unbleached muslin is becoming more popular. Red is used during holy week, although this is still obviously during lent. Black replaces purple/unbleached muslin/red on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 

I believe Roman Catholics use red on Good Friday, but I am not certain.


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## Financier (Mar 6, 2006)

While there have been Anglican churches in the U.S. not associated with the Episcopal Church for a long time, more "Anglican" churches are appearing in the states, mostly as a result of theological disagreements within the Episcopal Church USA. 

Typically churches that refer to themselves as Anglican follow the traditions and rites of the Church of England, or those of the Episcopal church from which they have split. Some have aligned themselves with Anglican diocese outside of the U.S., and some are independent of the Anglican Communion. 

I don't know if this answers your questions regarding whether or not it is a "demonination", but I'm not sure demonination has a precise difintion either.


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

I'm just wearing a jacket and tie and calling it good.

At our church, where a lot of men do wear suits on Sunday, most people just wear whatever they have on (within reason; no one looks like they have just changed their oil) on Good Friday.


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## Financier (Mar 6, 2006)

My church is very dressed during the Sunday morning services. I have never attended the Sunday evening "casual service". The Good Friday crowd was pretty well turned out, with a few exceptions.

More importantly, a very well done and impactful service.


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## JLibourel (Jun 13, 2004)

A few words about "Traditional Anglicans": A few minor splinter groups appeared in reaction to the social activism of the Episcopal Church in the 1960s. At least one of these was pretty overtly racist. However, the major split occurred after the Episcopal Church's General Convention in 1976, when they voted to ordain women (thereby, in the view of the critics, abandoning the Apostolic Ministry instituted by Jesus Christ) and to jettison the traditional Book of Common Prayer (forsaking one the glories of the Anglican tradition and the English language). While some of the leadership of the dissidents ended up joining the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches, most wished to continue in the Anglican tradition. More because of personality clashes and petty politics than any substantial doctrinal differences, the movement has been rather fissiparous. At this time I believe there are three major bodies that can be characterized as "Traditional Anglicans": The Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Church in America and the Anglican Province of Christ the King. All of these are "High Church." At least one conservative Low Church group emerged out of the schisms of the late 1970s--the United Episcopal Church. I think it is smaller than the previously mentioned groups. There are a number of smaller "Anglican" splinter groups I don't know much about. At least one is very pro-gay, the existence of which is surprising given how hospitable the main Episcopal Church has been to gays in recent years, which has also caused some parishes to bolt the Episcopal Church in the past couple of years.

The Good Friday liturgy I attended was at an Anglican Catholic Church. I was the only man in the little congregation in coat and tie. Two other men wore neckties without coats. (So much for suggestions of stroller jackets!) Most of the congregation looked very old, even to me--and I'm 64!


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## Anthony Jordan (Apr 29, 2005)

I wore a three-piece Oxford grey suit, white shirt, a fairly sombre black/purple striped tie, black shoes and a charcoal-grey hat. Didn't we have a conversation about liturgical colours about this time last year? In any case, with the exception of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholic liturgical colour: green) I do tend to pick up the relevant liturgical colour if I can so without ostentation - usually by means of tie, handkerchief, socks or waistcoat. Hence gold or white for Easter and Christmas, purple during Lent and Advent, pink on Laetare and Gaudete Sundays, etc.


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## Trimmer (Nov 2, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Anthony Jordan_
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> pink


pink !

Trimmer


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## JLibourel (Jun 13, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Trimmer_
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Why the exclamation? I believe that the proper color for those Sundays is "rose," but pink ought to be close enough.


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## Trimmer (Nov 2, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by JLibourel_
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Last year I was 'criticized' for calling rose 'pink'.

The Latin 'rosa' of course translates either way.

All in good humour and the Easter spirit.

Trimmer


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