Good Friday will be celebrated around the world today - and here's why millions will mark the day.

With many businesses shut, tens of thousands of employees furloughed, and millions of others working from home, plenty of people will be looking forward to the Easter bank holiday weekend this year.

  • When is Good Friday?

Good Friday 2020 falls on April 10, and is always followed by Easter Monday, on April 13. This is a bank holiday in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland.

For the rest of the UK, Good Friday and Easter Monday combined give most workers a four day long weekend.

Good Friday has been an official bank holiday since 1871, but was often informally observed as a public holiday before that date.

  • Why do people celebrate Good Friday?

Good Friday is a Christian holiday that commemorates the belief in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, before his resurrection three days later.

Different sects of Christianity mark the occasion in different ways.

In the Roman Catholic Church, it is traditionally observed by congregations who take part in the Three Hours’ Agony, or Three Hours’ Devotion - a solemn service that begins at noon and ends at 3pm, the time at which many Christians believe Jesus died.

In the Lutheran Church, Good Friday is the most important liturgical day of the year, and members of the church often fast and abstain from work in observance of it.

In Eastern Orthodox traditions, Good Friday falls on a different date, due to disagreements with the Roman Church over the exact date of Easter itself.

On Good Friday, Eastern Orthodox clerics wear black vestments instead of their traditionally highly embroidered ones, and all drapings in churches are changed to black.