Black Friday in the UK

Black Friday at Asda, a UK superstore owned by American store Walmart

This week, retail therapy becomes the national sport when shoppers in America extend their Thanksgiving holiday. For many years, American stores galvanize themselves for Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.  Many people believe the name originates from the fact that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss ("in the red") from January through November, and "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or "in the black". This is patent nonsense. If a retailer operated on such a basis, he, she or it would be out of business well before November.

In fact, the name “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term originated in the late 1950s and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia in the 1970s.

What has amazed me British retailers have used the expression this year to promote pre-Christmas sales. Why is it necessary for shop-owners to adopt an Americanism that most Brits wouldn’t understand? And why link the day to Thanksgiving, a holiday we don’t celebrate in UK? And why promote such a day here, when it is a working day? And why are we Brits promoting American holidays. Black Friday is not an isolated case. Take Halloween.

I have been fortunate enough to spend 31^st October in America. I shall never forget meeting a human-size frog-dressed bank teller in a Key Biscayne bank. On leaving the bank, a lady elf offered me a sweet, chanting “trick or loan.” Halloween is an American celebration. Children come to your door and recite, “trick or treat, money or eats.” If you ask for a trick, you may well find your front windows “egged.” And it can be loads of fun for all with pumpkins carved to look gruesome, lit up in many home windows, and kids dressed as devils and witches.

For reasons I don’t follow, Halloween has come to Britain. Where we live, kids turn up at the door, occasionally in fancy dress, thankfully often accompanied by an adult. They thrust forward a plastic bucket, demanding it be filled with sweets. But they usually say nothing, nothing at all. So, it is an exercise in “sweet-grabbing” and has little to do with ‘ghouls, goblins and long-leggedy beasties.’

Before you accuse me of sounding like the Grinch, I have no objection to spending money in stores and dressing kids up and having fun with them. This week in our village of Pinner, we had pantomime night, when shopkeepers dress up as pantomime figures and serve all sorts of goodies and drinks…at a price. Amusement rides, Christmas decorations and a real village atmosphere make the evening so worthwhile.

My objection is that we seem to be adopting American holidays without knowing why. Can you imagine Americans setting light to bonfires on 5^th November, after days of having kids in the neighborhood going around asking for “a penny for the guy?” Preposterous.

If Brits want to enjoy Black Friday, Lincoln’s birthday or any other American holiday, by all means do so but do it in the right place: America.

One other thing for good measure. Bah humbug!