Fell On Black Days

Tomorrow is Black Friday, the beginning of the traditional holiday shopping season in the United States. Although the day has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. "Black Friday" was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day, although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit). It is not the only black day of the week; in fact they all are.

First, Soundgarden's "Fell On Black Days", because they goddamn rule.

Black Monday
Dublin, 1209 – when a group of 500 recently arrived settlers from Bristol were massacred by warriors of the Gaelic O'Byrne clan. The group had left the safety of the walled city of Dublin to celebrate Easter Monday near a wood at Ranelagh, when they were attacked without warning. For centuries afterwards, this event was commemorated by a mustering of soldiers on the day as a challenge to the native tribes.

April 14 1360 – the army of Edward III during the Hundred Years' War was struck by hailstorms, lightning and panic, causing considerable loss of life on Easter Monday.

February 27 1865 – a "sirocco" wind brought sandstorms to Melbourne, Australia affecting Sandhurst and Castlemaine.

February 8 1886 – when a major protest over unemployment led to a riot in Pall Mall, London.

December 10 1894 – when both banks of Newfoundland, Britain’s oldest colony, had closed their doors and rendering that colony’s main medium of exchange worthless.

October 28 1929 – a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval .

May 27 1935 – Supreme Court Justices overturned multiple Acts including National Industrial Recovery Act.

September 19 1977 – when Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, one of America's largest regional steel-manufacturing firms, announced that it would shut down most of its operations in the vicinity of Youngstown, Ohio. This development presaged the collapse of that community's industrial economy.

October 15 1979 – the offices of the The Times of Malta were set on fire during a political rally. It was also on this day that supporters of the Malta Labour Party broke into the house of Dr. Edward Fenech Adami.

October 19 1987 – the second largest one-day decline in recorded stock market history.

October 8 1990 – the day the Israeli Border Police shot to death 17 Muslim Arabs at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Black Tuesday
October 29 1929 - a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929

1967 - the Black Tuesday Tasmanian bushfires, an Australia natural disaster

Black Wednesday
September 16 1992 - the British government was forced to withdraw the Pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism due to pressure by currency speculators (like George Soros who made over $1 billion from this speculation). In 1997 the UK Treasury estimated the losses at £3.4 billion.

Black Thursday
October 24 1929 - the start of the Wall Street Crash of 1929

October 14 1943 - when the Allies suffered large losses during bombing in the Second Raid on Schweinfurt during World War II.

August 8 1982 - when Israel launched heavy aerial and artillery assaults on Beirut, Lebanon.

February 8 1996 - the Black World Wide Web protest against the Communications Decency Act in the United States.

July 24 2003 - a series of violent political demonstrations created havoc in Guatemala City.

Black Friday
September 24 1869 - the Fisk-Gould Scandal, a financial crisis in the United States .

November 18 1910 - a campaign outside the British House of Commons of the Women's Social and Political Union the Conciliation Bill failed.

January 31 1919 - the Battle of George Square, a riot stemming from industrial unrest in Glasgow, Scotland.

April 15 1921 - the announcement of British transport union leaders not to call for strike action against wage reductions for miners.

January 13 1939 - a day of devastating fires in Australia.

October 13 1944 - a disastrous attack by the Canadian Black Watch near Woensdrecht during the Battle of the Scheldt.

February 9 1945 - an air battle over Sunnfjord, the largest over Norway.

October 5 1945 - a riot at the Warner Bros. studios stemming from a Confederation of Studio Unions strike, leading to the eventual breakup of the CSU.

September 8 1978 - a massacre of protesters in Iran.

1982 - the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands, sparking the Falklands War.

August 13 2004 - a crackdown in Maldives, Malé on peaceful protesters.

Black Saturday
1621 - a particularly dark and stormy day in Scotland.

December 1975 - a massacre that helped precipitate the Lebanese Civil War.

1983 - the day Hong Kong exchange rates fell to an all time low.

1984 - the day Vince McMahon took over WTBS wrestling programming.

2004 - an attack in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

Black Sunday
April 14 1935 - a large dust storm that swept across the Dust Bowl

July 17 1955 - the name given to Disneyland's opening day.