Day After Thanksgiving
For most people, the Friday following Thanksgiving is known simply as Black Friday. It’s a day for people to secure deals at their local stores—often by showing up at them right after midnight or before dawn. However, for some people, this holiday is more than just a day to obtain great deals on the items on their shopping list.
United States (State holiday) - 20 statesIt’s also a day for people to get an extra day off work. Yes, in some U.S. states, the Day After Thanksgiving is either observed as a holiday for state employees or as a day that can be taken by employees of private companies.
As of right now, it’s a holiday in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The History of the Day After Thanksgiving
In the past, the Day After Thanksgiving has not been a traditional holiday. From the time that Thanksgiving was made a holiday until quite recently, this day was simply another day of the year.
People went to work and continued with their normal day-to-day business, regardless of whether they were suffering from a “turkey hangover” or not. Then the day began to be celebrated as Black Friday. This was because many people wanted to get a jump on their Christmas gift buying.
The term Black Friday was originally coined by police officers on the East Coast of the U.S. who were describing the congested and chaotic streets filled with shoppers. Eventually, the term began to mean a sales day for businesses where they could get out of the “red” and into the “black” in their accounting books.
During the 1980s, Black Friday began to take off and continued to grow in popularity. Many employees began to either request this day off or to call in “sick.” The prospect of calling in sick on this day so that you can go shopping or simply recover from eating too much turkey is called the “Black Friday Flu.”
As a result, state agencies began to give their employees the day off. Although not all businesses in these states do the same, there does seem to be a growing trend that features companies giving their employees the day off. It’s unknown whether this trend will continue.
Observing the Day After Thanksgiving
Since the Day After Thanksgiving is also Black Friday, many people will use this holiday to go shopping. This means that they will most likely be attending special store openings the night of Thanksgiving or early Friday morning.
Many people also simply use this holiday as a way to take an extra long weekend. On social media, the hashtags #DayAfterThanksgiving or #BlackFriday can be used to share special discounts or to wish people a happy holiday.
United States (State holiday) - 20 states
