Aaaahhhhhh, Black Friday is here already!
Today, we are gonna tell you about the US tradition f Black Friday, which has started
to become famous all around the world.
It is an event that takes place on the 4th Friday of November, when all stores have great
sales.
The origins are a lot older than we could imagine.
They have to do with Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
Traditionally, these dates were created so we could thank God for the good harvest of
the year, and pray for next year’s.
It’s origin dates back to 1621.
Black Friday’s origin goes back to the late 19th and early 20th century, when lots of
Christmas parades started taking place the day after Thanksgiving.
The department stores, spotting the opportunity of selling, took advantage of the situation
to launch their Christmas campaign.
So, little by little, this became a tradition, nobody went on Christmas sales before the
parades took place.
The term Black Friday is not only used to talk about this commercial celebration, it’s
also been used to name many tragic Fridays.
For example, January 13th 1939 was called so because of a series of fires that devastated
more than 20 thousand square kilometers in Australia.
Also February 9th 1945, because of an unsuccessful attack of the allied troops against the nazis.
September 24th 1869 as well, called Black Friday because it marked the beginning of
a serious economic crsis in the US.
The first time the term Black Friday was used to refer to the friday after Thanksgiving
was in 1951.
The newspaper Factory Management and Maintenance used it in one of their articles, tho it wast
then that it became popular.
10 years later, the weekend after the US celebration, people went out to try and get the best deals
for their Christmas gifts.
This led to traffic jams, and people on foot were not particularly a few only.
he guards in charge of the traffic started using the expression Black Friday to refer
to that day, as a joke, because whoever was sent to control the traffic were not gonna
have a very good time.
This use started spreading little by little, and a lot of people gave it a new meaning
in 1981.
Back then, companies finantial statements could be in the red, literally.
That is, when they were in debt, the numbers in their financial records were written in
red.
Thanks to the sales of the day after Thanksgiving, lots of stores were able to go from negative
to positive numbers, for which they used black ink.
Black Friday was the date in which lots of stores had their statements go from being
in red to being “in black”, but in a good sense.
In 2013, there was this rumor that spread on the Internet saying that the expression
came from the tradition of selling slaves for a reduced price the day after Thanksgiving.
But this rumor is not true.
Even tho Thanksgiving WAS born in 1620, it wasnt established as a US national holiday
until 1863.
By that time, Lincoln was already the president, who abolished slavery in the US in 1865.
Nowadays, Black Friday is one of the days of the year that moves more money.
In the US, it’s been the leader in sales since 2005, and as for today, it’s present
in almost the whole world!
Specially, thanks to e-commerce.
And in case you are afraid you dont have the time to indulge your whim, do not worry, because
online stores have also created the Cyber Monday.
It takes place the Monday after Black Friday, and it also implies lots of bargains!
Though… not all that glitters is gold.
Black Friday also brings along lots of critics and controversia, since it’s a day that
encourages consumerism and motivates customers to spend money in things they dont really
need.
On the other hand, some stores have also been accused of inflating prices previously, soo…
check prices before Black Friday!
Don't let them fool you!
Black Friday is a date thats becoming more and more famous.
There are some pens we have already set our eyes on… and what about you? are you buying
anything?