Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday in the retail world and is the day when hordes of credit card waving American consumers descend on Malls and Wallmarts across the nation, endeavoring to sink themselves into Cristmas debt, in an exercise of frenzied consumerism, all to find that perfect high-definition gift in honor of their savior. Where would Jesus shop?

Our family’s take on the day after the big turkey-day feast is fairly atypical, I guess. We exchange gifts on Thanksgiving and tend to keep things pagan or at least secular. In any event, the shopping has all been accomplished by the big day. We also generally do not participate in “black” days, preferring pastels or primary colored days. You might be interested to know that the term “black” has been applied to all seven days of the week at one time or another, sometimes more appropriately than others. Let's take a look, shall we?:

Black Saturday is a term used in Scotland to describe a dark, stormy Saturday that occurred on 4 August 1621. Many regarded the foul weather as a judgment of Heaven against Acts then passed in the Scots Parliament tending to establish Episcopacy. Black Saturday in Lebanon refers to the December, 1975 massacre that helped precipitate the Lebanese Civil War. It is also a term used for when Vince McMahon raided WTBS wrestling programming in 1984. It refers to the Yanbu attack by gunmen against Westerners on May 1, 2004, in Yanbu' al Bahr, Saudi Arabia. In France it refers to the big traffic problems that occur when they go on holiday. Black Saturday in the Philippines is the day before Easter.

The storm on Black Sunday (April 14, 1935) was the last major dust storm of that year in the dust bowl, and the damage it caused was not calculated for months. Coming on the heels of a stormy season, the April 14 storm hit as many others had, only much harder.

Black Monday is the name given to Monday, October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell dramatically, and on which similar enormous drops occurred across the world. By the end of October, stock markets in Hong Kong had fallen 45.8%, Australia 41.8%, the United Kingdom 26.4%, the United States 22.68%, and Canada 22.5%.

Black Tuesday refers to a number of different things: The phrase Black Tuesday refers to October 29, 1929, five days after the United States stock market crash of Black Thursday, when general panic set in and everyone with investments in the market tried to pull out of the market at once. The phrase Black Tuesday also refers to September 29, 1931 when Estevan miners protesting were fired upon by RCMP officers. It has also been used to refer to September 11, 2001, the date of the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center. Black Tuesday has come into use as a reference to the day Microsoft releases bundles of patches for its Windows operating systems: the second Tuesday of each month. These patches represent new software vulnerabilities, and the bulk release of patches is often followed closely by new viruses which exploit the holes the patches fix. Black Tuesday can also refer to November 29, 1939, the date of the climax of a period of extreme smoke cover in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The pollution was due primarily to the widespread use of bituminous coal, and resulted in near zero visibility and the use of streetlights at midday. Black Tuesday also refers to a day in Bahamian history April 27, 1965 when then-Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Sir Lynden Pindling threw the Speaker's Mace out of the House of Assembly window in protest against the unfair gerrymandering of constituency boundaries by the then ruling United Bahamian Party (UBP) government. In Australia, February 7, 1967 was referred to as Black Tuesday because it was the day of the 1967 Tasmanian fires. A total of 62 lives were lost and more than 1300 homes destroyed by the fires. Black Tuesday was a 1954 film starring Edward G. Robinson and Peter Graves. More recently, Black Tuesday refers to January 11, 2005, when bushfires killed 9 people in South Australia. They were the worst bushfires seen in Australia since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

In British politics and economics, Black Wednesday refers to September 16, 1992 when the Conservative government of the day was forced to withdraw the Pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) due to pressure by currency speculators—most notably George Soros who made over US$1 billion from this speculation.

Black Thursday can refer to October 24, 1929, which marked the start of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 at the New York Stock Exchange; or October 14, 1943, when the allies suffered large losses in the bombing raid on Schweinfurt. The Black World Wide Web protest took place on a Thursday in 1996. It was a protest against the Communications Decency Act in the United States. Black Thursday was a 1993 incident when Phillies star Pete Incaviglia mouthed some obscenities and stormed out of an autograph session at the Granite Run Mall. To our friends south of the border it is Jueves negro, which refers to incidents on 24 July 2003 relating to pre-election rioting in Guatemala City.

Our Black Friday consisted of a trip to the local park in Cary, NC to watch young miss Alexis play and help her build sand castles, included a jumbo bucket of balls shared among the Miller boys at the driving range (yours truly was hitting them almost straight by the end) and culminated with the annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament at the Childers Estate, commonly referred to as Turkey Poolooza. This year Jeff Goldblatt was the first to drop out, followed soon after by his protégé (and son) Brett. Jeff won a commemorative tee-shirt marking the occasion and had to fetch drinks and shuffle cards for the remainder of the evening. Warren and Wayne battled fiercely with Wayne coming out on the short end of things. Warren broke even, but Wayne’s friend Chester was the tournament winner, taking the championship tee-shirt (and all the money). We all concluded that it was the fish flavored candy that he brought from Japan that gave him the edge and the funky breath.