Thanksgiving Ragamuffin Parade
When searching for Thanksgiving images in our Digital Gallery, you might be surprised to find a set of about 20 images of Thanksgiving "ragamuffins." Who are these young beggars and what do they have to do with Thanksgiving?
Before Halloween was the holiday known for dressing up in costume and begging for candy (this practice did not become common until the 1940s and '50s), children in NYC often participated in what was called Ragamuffin Day. On Ragamuffin Day—which was Thanksgiving Day—children would dress themselves in rags and oversized, overdone parodies of beggars (à la Charlie Chaplin's character "The Tramp"). The ragamuffins would then ask neighbors and adults on the street, "Anything for Thanksgiving?" The usual response would be pennies, an apple, or a piece of candy.
The New York Tribune ran an article on November 21, 1909 which dated the tradition 40 years back to about 1870. Reverend James M. Farrar said, "Those of you who have always lived in New York do not think of this Thanksgiving game of ragamuffin as a strange custom, but the strangers coming to our city are greatly surprised, and ask what it means." Farrar thought that the tradition of "dressing in old clothes, many sizes too large, painting their faces or putting on masks" was "here to stay."
However, by 1930, articles were appearing in The New York Times calling for an end to the practice. William J. O'Shea, Superintendent of Schools at the time, sent a circular to the district superintendents and principals which stated that "modernity is incompatible with the custom of children to masquerade and annoy adults on Thanksgiving day." Shea also stated, "many citizens complain that on Thanksgiving Day they are annoyed by children dressed as ragamuffins, who beg for money and gifts."
O'Shea's plea to end the tradition must have carried some gravitas because that year The New York Times reported that "Parading Thanksgiving Ragamuffins Scarce, Except Out Where City's Subway Lines End." A Times Square policeman interviewed in the article stated, "all I've seen is just about six kids dressed up like we used to dress in the old days. Things ain't the way they used to be." The article also seems to lament the loss of the "splashes of color" and stated, "instead of the usual droves of hilarious youngsters in false faces and outlandish garb... one encountered only one or two every half hour. The ragamuffin is vanishing."
The Ragamuffin tradition was much more difficult to quash in the outer boroughs. The Times reported that "in Flatbush, the Bronx, Greenpoint, and other places where the subway lines end, the ragamuffin tradition persists somewhat more tenaciously."
In 1936, The New York Times' only mention of the ragamuffins is to state:
"Ragamuffins Frowned Upon: Despite the endeavors of social agencies to discourage begging by children, it is likely that the customary Thanksgiving ragamuffins, wearing discarded apparel of their elders, with masks and painted faces, will ask passers-by, 'anything for Thanksgiving?'"
The tradition was definitely waning through official statements of disapproval.
In 1937, organizations such as the Madison Square Boys Club were reported as having Thanksgiving parades as an effort "to discourage the Thanksgiving ragamuffins." By 1940, that parade had grown in size to over 400 children and sported the slogan "American boys do not beg." Though the parading boys still dressed in costume as ragamuffins, many donned costumes of other things and people—such as alarm clocks and Michelangelo.
The Ragamuffin parade continued to grow and annual mentions of it appear in The New York Times. In 1943, there is a mention of a 25-year-old man who was arrested while "attired in an ill-fitting assortment of women's clothing over khaki Army trousers peeping from under a drab gray dress." His wife had to explain to the magistrate that he was dressed for a Thanksgiving Ragamuffin party.
The last mention of the Thanksgiving Ragamuffin parades—as one had appeared in the Bronx as well—is in 1956. At some point the Ragamuffin parade was ceased and it had been overshadowed by the larger, balloon-oriented, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that gained nation-wide popularity after the success of the film Miracle on 34th Street. Ragamuffin traditions were ceded to the rise of Halloween which fostered the "begging" of candy again through trick-or-treating and brought costuming to a whole new level. Hopefully, no official social agencies will try and squash this costumed holiday, but I imagine that if they did, they would receive greater resistance.
For more on New York City-based Thanksgiving Day traditions (including some lesser-known activities), check out another of our blog posts, "Balloons Over Broadway".
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Comments
But it never died completely...
Submitted by Robert (not verified) on March 19, 2011 - 8:45am
Ragamuffins on Thanksgiving
Submitted by Warren Christie (not verified) on November 2, 2011 - 4:26pm
Ragamuffins
Submitted by Anne Howe (not verified) on August 3, 2016 - 3:20pm
Thanksgiving
Submitted by Edward McHugh (not verified) on November 22, 2018 - 6:14pm
Thanksgiving begging
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 1, 2013 - 3:34pm
I wasn't imagining it!
Submitted by Sheila (not verified) on November 28, 2013 - 1:01pm
Anything for Thanksgiving
Submitted by Barbara (not verified) on November 28, 2014 - 2:37am
Thanks Dad!
Submitted by Ruth (not verified) on October 24, 2014 - 9:48am
Anything few Thanksgiving
Submitted by Ed (not verified) on October 30, 2014 - 1:09pm
Thanksgiving begging.
Submitted by Pat (not verified) on October 28, 2016 - 10:27pm
Thanksgiving Ragamuffin Parade
Submitted by Rick (not verified) on November 1, 2014 - 1:45pm
Thanksgiving Ragamuffin Parade
Submitted by V.Simpson (not verified) on November 5, 2014 - 6:39pm
Thanksgiving Beggars
Submitted by Jerry Lincoln (not verified) on November 5, 2014 - 10:56pm
Anything for Thanksgiving?
Submitted by Marilyn Hansen (not verified) on November 23, 2014 - 4:38pm
Anything for Thanksgiving?
Submitted by Lois (not verified) on November 25, 2014 - 8:40am
Thanksgiving ragamuffins
Submitted by Leslie (not verified) on October 17, 2016 - 7:44pm
Origins of the ragamuffin parades
Submitted by Jim (not verified) on November 25, 2014 - 1:40pm
Here's a Ragamuffin Day story for ya.
Submitted by David Bright (not verified) on November 25, 2014 - 2:54pm
Thanksgiving Ragamuffins
Submitted by Karol Olson (not verified) on November 26, 2014 - 5:29pm
parents told us about this...
Submitted by J. Ardis (not verified) on October 30, 2015 - 3:56pm
Thanksgiving begging
Submitted by Carol Neilson (not verified) on November 1, 2015 - 7:51pm
Childhood memory
Submitted by Victoria Gaile (not verified) on November 1, 2015 - 8:12pm
Dressing up for Thanksgiving
Submitted by Marlene (not verified) on November 14, 2015 - 2:54am
Begging for thanksgiving
Submitted by jim cooke (not verified) on November 19, 2015 - 12:13pm
Bay Ridge Ragamuffin Parade
Submitted by Rosa (not verified) on November 23, 2015 - 11:58am
ragamuffin
Submitted by charles rothfuss (not verified) on March 17, 2016 - 3:38pm
Hi Charles! My family has
Submitted by HK Westside (not verified) on November 19, 2016 - 11:30pm
Thanksgiving Ragamuffins
Submitted by Pat Gleason (not verified) on December 12, 2017 - 5:12am
Begging for Thanksgiving
Submitted by Barbara Rich (not verified) on August 3, 2016 - 3:39pm
Remember it well -in Jersey
Submitted by mary jo (not verified) on October 23, 2016 - 11:18pm
ragamuffin parade
Submitted by richard schmidt (not verified) on November 22, 2016 - 6:31am
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Submitted by Annie (not verified) on November 20, 2021 - 6:57pm