<Tr> <Th> Frequency </Th> <Td> Annual </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Related to </Th> <Td> Thanksgiving, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Christmas, Buy Nothing Day </Td> </Tr> <P> Black Friday is an informal name for the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, the fourth Thursday of November, which has been regarded as the beginning of the country's Christmas shopping season since 1952 . </P> <P> Most major retailers open very early, as early as overnight hours, and offer promotional sales . Black Friday is not an official holiday, but California and some other states observe "The Day After Thanksgiving" as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as the Columbus Day . Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the following Friday off, which, along with the following regular weekend, makes it a four - day weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers . </P>

When did the term black friday first circulate