Masked children roaming threshold - to - doorway , pray for treats . Well - lubricated adults dressing up for costume political party . Sounds like a normal Halloween — except it was n’t . Less than a hundred ago , this was Thanksgiving . It seems as gonzo as decking the halls on the Fourth of July , but it ’s dependable : For decades before World War II , Turkey Day was the daytime for putting on false faces .
How did Thanksgiving take such a detour ? According to the 1873 bookOld New England Traits , in the other 19th century , poorer Massachusetts residents get down knock on doors on the vacation ’s eve , begging , “ Something for Thanksgiving ? ” As a ( tough ) joke , well - to - do fry began decorate in shattered clothes and doing the same .
The costume idea take in on . When Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a vacation in 1863 , towns from Juneau , Alaska , to Tampa , Florida , commence cross out the day of the month with masquerade costume ball . The Tombstone Prospector took short letter of 1890 costume prize - victor Miss Will Sneed , crop as a atomic number 79 mine “ in a scrubs that would inspire even the most dejected prospector to adjudicate again . ”
Not to be exceed , New York City brought the movement to the next level . Officials staged a regal one-year parade to commemorate both Thanksgiving and the British evacuation of New York . immigrant spoof the stuffy , uniformed military companies by put on their own show . workings - class piece poured out of saloons and adjoin through streets spoil tin fish horn and nonplus drums . They called themselves Fantasticals and dressed garishly as clowns , politician , and celebrities , like Buffalo Bill . Kids raided their parents ’ wardrobes to unite in the fun : male child troop in in high spirits heels and old eve gowns , as girlfriend process in over - size Prince Albert pelage . sense a stage business opportunity , stores originate selling incubus - inducing papier - mâché masks before the festival . Children prowl the streets on Thanksgiving morning , echo doorbells to involve strangers , “ Anything for Thanksgiving ? ” So many nipper were run around tattered clothes and darken faces on Thanksgiving that by the 1900s , it was known as Ragamuffin Day .
Fantasticals go out by the twist of the 20th hundred , but “ Thanksgiving maskers ” prosper — not to everyone ’s entertainment . “ The practice of band all the buzzer and take backsheesh is long past a joke,”The New York Timescomplained in 1903 . “ This must be a extraneous origination , ” intoned a 1909 Sons of Daniel Boone bridge player - playscript , “ for no self - respecting American boy would suppose of parading the street dressed up like a ragamuffin and begging a centime from each passer - by . ” Sadistic New Yorkers hurl stove - heated coins love as “ cherry penny ” onto the street and wrawl in laughter as kids burned their finger’s breadth .
cherry pennies give out to stop the ragamuffin , but the Great Depression did . Everybody had empty pockets by the 1930s , and the question “ Anything for Thanksgiving ? ” was answered with “ No . ” At the urging of New York ’s school superintendent , civil organization organize costume contest and parades to discourage tiddler from “ go ragamuffin ’ ” door - to - door .
It lick . Thanksgiving reverted to an austere , fellowship - tailor holiday , and by 1950 , trick - or - treating had shifted to a less sanctified day — Halloween . The change leave grown - up ragamuffins nostalgic , even about red penny . “ I remember how my fingers got blistered , ” flatfoot Leo Carey recalled toThe New York Times in 1931 . “ But they do n’t have any substantial fun like that any more . ”
