Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 am, or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many non-retail employers also observe this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their employees the day off, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.

Thanksgiving arrives earlier than usual this year — the holiday falls on the fourth Thursday of November, which is usually at the end of the month. The question is: Are Americans ready for Thanksgiving?

 By Gladys Noel, November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims to give thanks to God for guiding them safely to the New World and providing them enough food to survive after their arrival.

On December 4,  1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred. The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a day of Thanksgiving to God.  On that first day, Captain John Woodlief held the service of Thanksgiving:"We ordain that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept only as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God."