For many around the world Good Friday is a sombre day when Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Christ.

But Bermudians have managed to take this solemn day and turn it literally into a Good Friday.

According to the Christian Book of Why, Christian teachings centre upon life and the resurrection from the dead to eternal life for Jesus and his followers.

The term `Good Friday' evolved from this emphasis on the good that emerged from out of evil.

But despite this attempt to focus on the positive, many Christians spend Good Friday in a pensive mood.

Not so in Bermuda, for next Friday locals will fly kites, play marbles and feast on fish cakes and hot-cross buns.

These local traditions are steeped in religious significance but manage to make Good Friday a Bermuda-ful day.

According to the book, Easter the World Over the basis for kite flying on Good Friday was traced back to a Bermudian who had difficulty explaining Christ's Ascension to Heaven to his Sunday school class.

The teacher and his class climbed a high hill on Good Friday where he launched a kite bearing a likeness of Jesus Christ.

Once the kite caught the air current and reached the end of its string, the teacher cut it loose and the kite soared out of sight in the sky.

Another local legend claims that kite flying became a Bermudian tradition when a preacher had difficulty getting people to come to church.

Reportedly people would only give him excuses for failing to show up for church on Good Friday.

The preacher decided to make the best of "a bad bargain'' by having the congregation fly kites instead.

The priest also thought that flying the kites on a hill would bring the congregation closer to heaven. And the shape of the cross on the kite would also remind them of Christian tradition.

The frames of the traditional kites flown on Good Friday usually form a cross which represents the one used to crucify Christ.

Another local Good Friday tradition, hot-cross buns, echo the cross theme. The buns have icing-sugar crosses applied on them to signify Christ's agony and death upon the cross.

The custom of locals consuming codfish cakes on Good Friday stems from Lent, which ends with Easter, and the Christian tradition of not eating meat on Fridays.

Tomorrow Christians around the world will remember Jesus' ride into the city where he was crucified.

Palm Sunday marks the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem, on the Sunday prior to his death, by riding on donkey.

The crowd which greeted him along the rode shouted "Hosanna'' (meaning Lord, help us) and threw palm branches in his path, hence the name Palm Sunday.

According to the book Christian Symbols Ancient and Modern, Jesus deliberately rode into Jerusalem to fulfil his Mission -- to die so he could rise from death.

Jesus had predicted his death and knew that Jerusalem would be the site. And to mark the day many local churchgoers will receive palm branches to take home.