Bright Friday

Easter Friday
Observed by	Christendom
Type	Christian
Observances	church services
Date	sixth day of the Octave of Easter
2016 date	April 1 (Western Churches) May 6 (Eastern Churches)
2017 date	April 21 (Western Churches) April 21 (Eastern Churches)
2018 date	April 6 (Western Churches) April 13 (Eastern Churches)

Easter Friday, or Bright Friday, is the Friday after the Christian festival of Easter. At times, this name has been confused with Good Friday, which falls a week earlier.

Since the date of Easter is calculated differently by Eastern and Western Christians, the date of the Western Churches' Easter Friday will often be different from the Eastern Bright Friday.

In the Roman Catholic Church and some Anglican churches, Easter Friday falls within the Octave of Easter. The date of Easter Friday changes from year to year, following the changing date of Easter Week. Just to show a few examples, in 2009 it fell on 17 April, and in 2010 it fell on 9 April. It fell on April 29 in 2011 and on April 13 in 2012.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, this day is referred to as "Bright Friday". All of the services for Pascha (Easter) are repeated every day of Bright Week (Easter Week), except for the hymns from the Octoechos. On Bright Friday, the Resurrection hymns from the Octoechos are taken from Tone Six.

In addition to the Paschal hymns, propers in honour of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "Life-giving Spring" are chanted on Bright Friday, and there is customarily a Lesser Blessing of Waters.

Because the date of Pascha is movable, Bright Friday is a part of the Paschal cycle, and changes from year to year. Eastern Christianity calculates the date of Easter differently from the West (see Computus for details). In 2013 it fell on May 10 (April 27 Old Style), in 2014 it fell on April 25 (April 12) and in 2015 it falls on April 17 (April 4).

...
Wikipedia