As someone who loves Hallowe’en and who remembers every single costume I ever wore as a boy, I am naturally fascinated by old photos of Hallowe’en costumes and stories of trick or treating. But years ago, when I was old enough to start getting curious about my family’s own stories, I inadvertently stumbled onto a bit of a mystery. I had asked my parents about Hallowe’en costumes and trick or treating when they were kids in Brooklyn, and they both said the same thing: that they didn’t really do much of that for Hallowe’en. Mom, however, piped in that she did remember dressing up and going door to door on Thanksgiving. “Anything for Thanksgiving?” was the phrase the costumed kids uttered when folks opened their doors. When I learned this from Mom, all those years ago, I think I just tucked the information away in my head under a category called That’s Weird, for I had never heard of such a thing, and it was definitely not the answer I was looking for when I had asked the question.
Be that as it may, this strange Hallowe’en-like Thanksgiving tradition, it turns out, was prevalent across the country in the early 1900s, but most especially in New York, where Mom and Dad grew up, and where the word Ragamuffin became associated with the Thanksgiving begging. There was even an annual Ragamuffin Parade. These things would eventually be frowned upon by leaders seeking a more genteel city––an early victim of gentrification. Nowadays, this old Thanksgiving custom is hardly known, faded with other relics of distant memory of that place once known as New Amsterdam.
Lately, I’ve come to learn more about this tradition, mainly through stories I’ve heard in recent years on NPR. The stories all back up my mom’s story, making her experience sound less bizarre. Rather than retell the story myself, I’m going to send you to one of those stories in the archives of the NPR website. Fittingly enough, it’s titled When Thanksgiving was Weird. The story is accompanied by some wonderful photographs. I probably wouldn’t even have thought about it this year were it not for the fact that my friend Jim Hammond, of Florida Day of the Dead fame, mentioned the Ragamuffin tradition recently on a social media post. So thank you, Jim, and thank you, Mom. And thank you to each of you who faithfully reads this blog. It means the world to me that you do. Happy Thanksgiving. May it be weird for you, in only the best way.
Image: Thanksgiving Maskers, circa 1910–1915. Photograph, Bain News Service / Library of Congress.
CHRISTMAS STOCK-UP SALE
Please do keep in mind our big Christmas Stock-Up Sale continues! $10 off your purchase of $75 at our catalog, plus free domestic shipping, makes a savings of $18.50. So many wonderful gifts to choose from, including Mom’s own handmade Millie’s Potholders, some new things from the Sabbathday Lake Shakers that smell incredible (plus their teas and herbs and rose water that taste wonderful), plus sparkly German Advent calendars and handmade British Advent candles, and a brand new shipment of Mexican painted tin ornaments arriving this week. And more, more, more. Your support of our mission on a transactional basis like this means you believe in what we do and in the work of all the artisans we support, too. That’s a powerful thing in these uncertain times.
COME SEE US!
Looks like we WILL be popping up in a safe way this Christmas season! Watch our Facebook and Instagram feeds (@conviviobookworks) for current news of days when we’ll be setting up shop at our favorite Christmas tree lot, Mr. Jingle’s Christmas Trees, in the heart of Downtown West Palm Beach at the corner of Quadrille and Lakeview, just across the tracks from Rosemary Square (formerly known as City Place). Proper address: 419 Lakeview Avenue, West Palm Beach 33401. Current plan is for Convivio Bookworks to be there for the first time this season the weekend of December 5 and 6 (and other days, as well), with a big selection of our Christmas and Advent artisan goods from Germany and Sweden and Mexico, our Shaker herbs and teas, Millie’s Famous Candy Wreaths (and her potholders, too), and more. It’s an open outdoor space so it is as safe as it gets these days, and face masks are required when shopping in our open tent, off to the side of the big tents at Mr. Jingle’s. Get your tree, too, while you’re there, from our pal Brandon Helfer. He knows his trees and will steer you in the right direction. We’ve been getting our Christmas trees from Brandon for years now. He’s a good guy.