The day after Thanksgiving in the United States is Black Friday. The Friday after Thanksgiving Day (observed on the fourth Thursday of November) has been regarded as the beginning of the United States Christmas shopping season since 1952, although the term "Black Friday" did not become widely used until the 1980s.

Many stores offer highly promoted sales on Black Friday and open very early, such as at midnight, or may even start their sales at some time on Thanksgiving. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but California and some other states observe "The Day After Thanksgiving" as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday, such as Columbus Day. Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the following Friday off, which, along with the following regular weekend, makes it a four-day weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers.

Although there have been other Black Fridays in the past, they were commonly associated with disasters both financial and otherwise. By 1981, the Friday following Thanksgiving became known as Black Friday due to the influence of merchants, who saw this day as the day their businesses' profits were "in the black", as opposed to operating "in the red" the months before. In accounting, red ink was commonly used to show negative amounts in a ledger while black ink was used to show positive amounts.

Due to being the day after Thanksgiving, this day is sometimes called You're Welcomegiving.

More Information

Black Friday (Wikipedia))

Also see

• November (month)