Black Friday is the kick-off of Christmas shopping and is celebrated in November
The Black Friday of 2019, the day on which Christmas shopping is kicked, starts on the last Friday of November and, although traditionally it was a day, in recent years it has become a complete weekend which ends the following Monday with Cyber Monday. This year Black Friday is celebrated on November 29 and the day of most sales is Saturday, according to some studies of specialized companies.
The origins of Black Friday
Black Friday or ‘Black Friday’ is an American tradition that consists of a significant price drop in the main stores that takes place on the last Friday of November.
The ‘Black Friday’ party originated in the United States, which explains why it is held every year the day after ‘ Thanksgiving ‘, a popular American holiday that takes place on the fourth Thursday of November.
The Cyber Monday , which this year 2019 will be on November 30, is the Monday in which you can find the biggest bargains in electronics, technology, telephony and video games.
Red numbers, black numbers
The most widespread theory around the terminology of the celebration is related to the accounting books of small businesses. Tradition has it those merchants kept their business accounts in the books manually, pointing their numbers in black ink, and using red ink to mark the negative figures, when the business went into losses.
According to this theory, after a disastrous year in terms of business and after many months in red numbers, after Thanksgiving Day finally came the Christmas season in which shops returned to the ” black numbers “, that is , which obtained benefits again.
The chaos in Philadelphia
Another theory, also quite widespread, ensures that the celebration of Black Friday has its origin in the 1960s in Philadelphia, where every year a football game is played between the Naval and Military academies of the United States. It is tradition that is disputed in Philadelphia, since this city is halfway between both academies.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the game becomes one of the most media sports events in the country. The event attracted so many people that plunged the city into a real chaos of pedestrians and cars, where accidents or accidents were not strange.
Over the years, the day before the game began to be called ‘Black Friday’ among police officers and bus drivers in that city. The word of mouth took care of the rest, until the newspaper ‘The New York Times’ completed the popularization of the term in an article published in 1975.
Economic crisis on Wall Street
On the other hand, another theory ensures that the origin of the term dates back to 1869 and is linked to the economic crisis. In 1869 two relentless financials on Wall Street, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, tried for all but profit in the midst of crisis and failed, so they dubbed that day as “Black Friday.” This theory is the least widespread.
WHAT IS THE TRUE ORIGIN OF “BLACK FRIDAY”?
CAREFUL WITH PURCHASES IN PRE-CHRISTMAS DATES, THAT CAN LEAVE YOU WITHOUT MONEY FOR TURRON
Most of us know that Black Friday is a time, not a single day, that in the pre-Christmas season allows us to approach the stores to buy with discounts. Also, like other traditions, it comes from the United States and we are implementing it in Spain more clearly every year.
However, we don’t even know where it really comes from, nor what its origin is and we just accept a day of special purchases because yes.
One of its most accepted origins is that stores went from red numbers (losses) to black numbers (profits), thanks to sales that came from Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November).
Another less easy to accept is that, around the 1800s, plantation owners could buy slaves at a discount the day after Thanksgiving.
A little more light
In fact, the origin goes back to the city of Philadelphia in the 50s. And it was the local police who began to coin the term in a derogatory way, because the city became chaos the day after Thanksgiving, for the avalanche of people who came to watch the football game between the two great military academies, which took place that Saturday.
Many years passed before the term became popular throughout the country. An attempt was made to change the name and turn it into ‘Big Friday’ to soften those negative connotations, but it was not achieved.
However, as early as the 1980s, stores boosted the idea of red and black numbers, which was not negative, and drove it across the country.
‘Black Friday’ today
In Spain, the term ‘black Friday’ is not used because it would sound bad. However, the idea has been imported without translating it and is sold as an era in which stores dispose of their inventories with strong discounts, to make way for the novelties they prepare with a view to Christmas.
Actually, it is a day of advanced Christmas shopping and no longer revolves around the cleaning of inventories, but to stimulate purchases in advance. It is no longer just electronics or appliances, discounts can be found on everything and financial offers to pay for it! Whether Black Friday 2019 is a great opportunity or an important puzzle depends on us.
That is why you have to be very careful and not confuse between responsible purchases and responsible expenses. If there is no need to acquire something concrete by taking advantage of those days, better stay at home. Going on a bargain hunt can make us a broken one in our pocket and leave us with no budget for Christmas.
