Each year, after the we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving with our families eating lots of delicious food, everyone rushes out to the stores to get the best deals for things that they need to buy for Christmas. This often becomes a very hectic event, and especially has as years have come and gone. But, does anyone really know how Black Friday started, or what the meaning of it is, or why we rush out to all the stores staying up all night just to get the best deals?

Well, Black Friday is the name that has been attached to the shopping day after the Thanksgiving holiday, this year it falls on November 29, 2019. This day was originally given its name due to the mass amount of shoppers that created shopping violence and even sometimes accidents for this day, creating the hectic and crazy vibe that surrounds the day.

The term, “Black Friday” was coined by police officers in Philadelphia as they referred to the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the 1950’s. After celebrating Thanksgiving, everyone would rush in the area to the Army-Navy football game and it often created a lot of chaos, traffic jams, and opportunities for citizens to shop lift, similar to Black Friday today.

Today, we see Black Friday, as well as Cyber Monday, as opportunities to get amazing deals on items that we will buy for friends and family to give to them on Christmas Day as gifts, this is the main reason for the shopping day or days, because their is no true meaning behind Black Friday.

Many people in our area and even students at the school go Black Friday shopping yearly and stay out all night trying to get the best deals possible and get everything that they have on their wish list for Christmas, but I am not one of those people. My family thinks that the chaos is just not worth it to get the deals, along with all of the long lines and that online shopping would be better, which cyber Monday is also used for, some students feel the same way about this day.

I interviewed a student about their thoughts on Black Friday along Cyber Monday and whether or not they shop till they drop for the deals. The student, Shelby Walker, responded, “I do not Black Friday or Cyber Monday shop because I do not like to deal with the chaos or all of the people.” Although many people enjoy this day, some do not.

If you are Black Friday shopping this year, be careful, and if your looking to hunt down some deals, I wish you luck and don’t get caught up in too much chaos!!