KARACHI: Good Friday, the day associated with crucifixion of Jesus Christ, was observed in churches across the city with special prayers for the country and health of citizens during sermons to remind the people of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Traditionally, the solemn occasion is divided into three parts — the Word of God, Veneration of the Cross and Communion.

But this year, apart from following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for gatherings and conducting religious procedures, the churches also had to follow certain SOPs set for them by the Vatican.

“According to directives from the Vatican, there is to be no kissing of the cross, no washing of the feet, and we are also told to cooperate with the government in making sure that everyone keeps their masks on and observes social distancing,” Mario Rodrigues, the parish priest at the St Jude’s Catholic Church in North Nazimabad informed Dawn.

“We are also holding all of our 10 services outside in the open in order to accommodate all people as they maintain social distancing,” he explained.

As the day is also associated with the tradition of baking sweet hot cross buns, there were also people seen lining up outside bakeries for them. The longest of these queues was observed at the J.C. Misquita Bakery and Sweets shop in Saddar. Due to the SOPs in place the owner of the bakery, Haider Abbas, was at the door requesting all customers to get a token at the counter and line up outside. They could only step inside when their number came up on the electronic display over the door.

It was a long wait. But one customer Beenish Nabeel said that it was worth it because baking hot cross buns at home doesn’t bring out the same taste. Model and actor Sunita Marshall was also there after attending services at the St Patrick’s parish.

Another customer Severine Coutinho said that she had tried hot cross buns from several bakeries, but somehow this old bakery’s delicacies set it apart from the rest. “The bakery didn’t even make hot cross buns last year due to the Covid-19 situation then,” she said.

Meanwhile, the owner told Dawn that they are Muslims. “There used to be a J.C. Misquita Bakery that was opened by a Christian family. My father bought it from them 47 years ago, and we carried on the name. The hot cross bun recipe is over 70 years old,” he said, while also adding that they had been baking the sweet buns since the past two days. “We have been baking 1,200 dozen each day, starting from 3am and today is the last batch, therefore the rush,” he smiled.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2021