The Strange Journey of “Black Friday”: There’s Still Hope in the Holidays
Most of us know why the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. Retailers depend on that day to kick off a strong shopping season. For many of them, Black Friday moves the bank books from red to black. But imagine my surprise to learn that the story behind the phrase is more layered than the holiday commercials make it sound.
The term first appears in American history in 1869, during the gold-market collapse that nearly brought down the financial system. “Black Friday” was a day of national panic. It had absolutely nothing to do with the biggest shopping day of the year.
And when the police first called, the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, it still had nothing to do with boosting retail sales. In the late ’60s, Philadelphia officers began calling the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” because the traffic, crowds, and chaos were so overwhelming that the city turned into a citywide nightmare. Law enforcement certainly wasn’t describing the flow of money. They were despairing of the flow of traffic.
Somewhere along the way, the meaning of the phrase shifted again. Before Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, Thanksgiving did not fall on a fixed calendar date—at least not officially. America had traditionally celebrated it on the last Thursday of November. But retailers appealed to FDR, explaining that they needed an extra shopping week to strengthen their bottom line. In response, the president declared that Thanksgiving would be observed on the fourth Thursday of November. Not everyone welcomed the move; some called it “Franksgiving” and continued celebrating on the final Thursday instead. Eventually, however, Congress ratified the change in 1941, officially fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. In years with five Thursdays, that shift created an additional week of holiday shopping.
Over time, Black Friday began to refer exclusively to the day after Thanksgiving—but now with a positive spin. A name first attached to a major financial crisis became known as one of the most profitable days of the year.
When the Season is Bleak
The historical irony of the name Black Friday reminds me that meanings can change. A term for economic crisis becomes the name of a day of financial increase. It reminds me that what starts in crisis doesn’t necessarily have to stay there.
Thanksgiving and Black Friday ring in the holiday season, “the most wonderful time of the year.” But that season is also emotionally complicated. While the holidays are indeed filled with joy, they are also filled with stress, grief, loneliness, and, often, loss. Statistically, it is one of the bleakest stretches on the calendar. Studies of American mortality reveal a rise in natural-cause deaths around Christmas and New Year’s. Heart-attack deaths spike during the final week of December. Much like the original “Black Friday,” the holiday season can be filled with burdens and heaviness.
It is important that, during this season, we remember that the holidays point to an ultimate historical arc—an end filled with hope because of Christ. Even with their sadness mixed in, the holiday season reminds us that God took the bleak, black sin problem of humanity and reversed the arc so that it bends eternally toward redemption.
Two Sentences for This Season
Why am I so convinced that black darkness will end in brilliant light? I can answer that in two sentences, both found in the Bible.
First, Psalm 136:1: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
This sentence describes the foundation of Thanksgiving. We do not give thanks because our year has been without loss, nor because our circumstances are light and easy. We give thanks because of the unchanging nature of God—He is good, and His mercy is forever.
Second, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5).
Here is the heart of Christmas in one sentence. Christ stepped willingly into a dark world, not to be swallowed by that darkness, but to defeat it. And all the darkness in the world could not so much as dim the brilliance of His light. He remains the Hope in the holidays.
In a season that is often far more complicated than the commercials portray, these two lines steady us. They remind us that the arc of history still bends in the right direction. They remind us that every black Friday is followed by a bright Sunday.
They remind us that it still is the most wonderful time of the year!
