The day after Thanksgiving has been known as “Black Friday” since the 1980s, and is a day when we are urged to shop ‘til we drop in a buying frenzy that marks the start of the holiday gift-buying season. Where did the term come from?

It’s hard to pinpoint the use of the term in reference to this particular shopping day, but some say it refers to the fact that retailers are so dependent on the Christmas shopping season that the quarter that includes this holiday is the most profitable of the year, compensating for losses from other quarters, and putting retailers “in the black.”

The major media outlets tell us that the worst of our economic situation is over, and that we are headed for a recovery. But thousands of people are still out of work, houses are still being foreclosed, cars are being repossessed, and people have grown wary of spending. In Harvard, the budget planning cycle has started with a challenge for town departments to do some serious belt-tightening.

Will shoppers respond to the call of Black Friday this year, or will they find ways to celebrate the holidays without having a lot of money leave their wallets? And what would this paradigm shift do to the gross national product?