It’s Good Friday, and that can only mean one thing - chippy tea.
At fish and chip shops across Greater Manchester, people have been queuing around the block this evening.
At the award-winning Chips @ No 8 in Clifton Road, Prestwich, a huge queue snaked out of the door and beneath the huge Mark E Smith mural that adorns the side of the shop. The crowds only continued to grow throughout the evening as young and old waited patiently in the April sunshine.
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It was a similar picture over at Armstrongs fish and chip shop, in Bury Old Road, where dozens of hungry customers waited for more than half an hour to be served.
For many, a fish supper on Good Friday is an annual tradition. It's typically the busiest night of the year for chippies as people uphold the meat-free tradition.
The reason people eat fish on Good Friday has deeply religious roots. Christians believe that Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross on Good Friday and so avoid eating meat as a mark of respect and remembrance.
The Marine Stewardship Council says: "On Good Friday, it's tradition to eat fish rather than meat. According to Christians, Jesus sacrificed his flesh on what is now known as Good Friday. This is why traditionally, people abstain from meaty flesh on Good Friday.
"Fish is viewed as a different kind of flesh, and so is favoured over meat on Good Friday. Additionally, fish shapes were used by Christians to identify each other, and it is believed that many followers of Jesus were fishermen."
In addition, meat was seen as a delicacy in ancient cultures, and animals would not be slaughtered for food unless there was something to celebrate. Fish is not seen as meat by Christians because Church law specifically states "land animals".
While meat was seen as celebratory and associated with feasts, fish was seen as an everyday food - a distinction that is not really reflected in today's eating habits.
And it's not just on Good Friday that you might find Christians avoiding meat. Some people refrain from eating meat on any Friday of the year, while others will only eat meat on Fridays outside of Lent.
The Catholic law of abstinence says that Catholics aged 14 and older refrain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, including on Good Friday. As well as this, Catholics aged 18 to 59 fast on both Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - a rule within the Roman Catholic church that means you can only consume only one full meal, or two smaller meals in the day.
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