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Black-Friday-main_article_image.jpg
REX/Ray Tang
UK News

Did Black Friday kill Christmas, asks former Archbishop

In a piece for The Mail on Sunday he said: "I have even asked myself the question: Is this the Black Day that killed Christmas?"

On Friday shopping centres and supermarkets across the country opened their doors early in a bid to attract customers.

Prices were slashed by more than 50 per cent in some stores.

But the day featured scenes of chaos as shoppers forced their way past each other to get the best deals.

Police were called to shops across the UK and in Greater Manchester a woman was injured when a TV fell on top of her.

The 'Black Friday' event has come from the United States where the day marks the start of Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving.

Lord Carey said: "I have always counselled against writing off Christmas for its blatant commercialism. Christians shouldn't be Scrooges.

"It was pretty smart of the early Christian Church to connect the birth of Jesus to an existing pagan festival. We have to recognise that a mid-winter feast predates our own faith and belongs to people of all faith and none.

"For that reason I have been reluctant to enter this particular debate. But the sudden arrival of 'Black Friday', an import from the US, has marked a new intensity in the festival of acquisition now enveloping us at this time of year - and it is important to say something.

"The behaviour it encourages is hardly appropriate to this or any other time of year.

"There is absence of context, a mindlessness even, to what we are now seeing that makes me concerned."

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