What is Black Friday?
Black Friday can have many meanings, depending on the country or even part of any country. Most commonly is the date of any month. The belief that Friday the 13th is a particularly unlucky day is a mix of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.
In Australia, it can refer to the devastating bush fires where 4,942,000 acres (2,000,000 ha) were burnt and 71 lived were lost on Friday 13th of January 1939 when the firestorm swept across Victoria. 71 people died.
In the USA it refers to the shopping day after Thanksgiving. It is the biggest shopping day of the year. The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (ie turning a profit). Thanksgiving is always on the fourth Thursday of the month and it is not uncommon to see shoppers lined up hours before stores with big sales open, which can be a chilly wait in some areas as it is close to winter there.
Black Friday also refers to the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands, sparking the Falklands War in which 907 were killed during the 74 days of the conflict. On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious landings of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), following the civilian occupation of South Georgia on March 19, before the Falklands War began.
Black Friday is also a 1940 science fiction/horror film starring Boris Karloff, a song by Megadeth and also by Steely Dan. Black Friday is used to refer to the air battle waged between German and British aircraft on 9 February 1945. It was the largest aerial clash over over Sunnfjord, Norway during World War II. The fight only last 15 minutes, but in that short time a total of approximately 15 planes and 24 lives were lost.