If you have been living in a cave you might not have heard about Black Friday yet, but everyone else has been bombarded with hints, leaks, and other information about sales and deals that are going to take place the Friday after Thanksgiving. If you have ever wondered where this tradition comes from, keep reading.The Origin of “Black” FridayAccording to various sources, the term Black Friday was first used to describe the shopping day after Thanksgiving on November 29, 1975 in the New York Times. It wasn’t because of big deals or sales, however. At that time, it took large retailers until that point in the year to start making money, break even, or get “into the black” with their numbers. Thus, Black Friday was born.For some reason, the phrase caught on and over the years, retailers began to take advantage of the hype and cool name by offering sales to try to draw in holiday shoppers. Soon, something clicked and it became a yearly ritual for many people – hunting for sales the day after Thanksgiving. The retailers noticed this, loved it, and fed into it by offering more sales.Over the years, it became difficult to keep up the hype, so each year it became more and more secretive and more and more crazier in terms of what people would do to save a few bucks on this or that product. Today, one could almost say it is out of control. Still, with the economy still faltering according to many, many people are anxious to see if the magic day of “Black Friday” can attract big business.Cyber Monday: The Future of Black Friday?Since the invention of the Internet, Black Friday has gotten bigger than ever before, but a new shopping day has arrived – Cyber Monday. Perhaps it is all the people returning to work and not wanting to get right back to work or the fact that stores offer even more sales for online shoppers. Whatever the reason, Cyber Monday is becoming more and more popular.While some people may enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn to hunt down deals, it’s not a “sport” for everyone. In fact, some people have actually gotten trampled and seriously hurt over the years. This is another reason why Cyber Monday is becoming so popular. People still get great deals and don’t have to go out and deal with the crowds. Still, many people enjoy the crowds – or put up with them to get the deals – so Black Friday is certain to become even bigger in the years to come.