Ragamuffin Day. It was a thing.

As kids we used burnt corks to make beards when needing a HoBo costume.

I spent halloween helping my 99 year old mom with her Tor T’ers. We were remarking on the inflatable and light up costumes. She said that in Harrisbug Pa where she grew up TotT was not a thing but the kids did engage in naughty mischief such as soaping windows and tossing hand cut confetti.

She also said that in Brooklyn where my father’s family was from kids did dress up on thanksgiving as you describe and get food handouts instead of candy treats.

Interesting. Never heard of this.

Never heard of this either.

Good on you, ladies!

It's a poor day in which one doesn't learn something!

ole joyfuelled

I'm pretty sure that on Thanksgiving we were given apples, oranges, nuts and pennies and very little candy.

So for our education, where/who is this from? When did it fall out of favor or is it still alive in some areas? Is it a specific cultural/ethnic tradition or was/is it centered in a certain region. Growing up in many states in the Midwest surrounded by military personnel with a rich ethnic diversity I was aware of many different customs. This not being one of them more information would be appreciated.

The link in my original post is to a number of articles that discuss the entire history and most of them have photos.

New one on me...

Never heard of it.

Well, neither had my sisters, 2 and 5 years younger than me, so it must have ended when I was quite young. And it looks as if it was pretty much restricted to general area around New York city. One of my sisters remembers my mother saying she used to do it (in Paterson, NJ) before they did Halloween, and she was born in 1919.

Never heard of this either.

Never heard of that one. However in the small PA town where my grandparents lived, it was tradition to respond Trick when the kids said trick or treat? The kids the performed a trick, usually a very short song or dance to get their treat. Kind of cute.

Article with photos here…

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/23/ragamuffin-day/?safari=1

from the article.

“After Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed that Thanksgiving was to be celebrated as a national holiday in 1863, many states began to take part in different festivities and traditions.

One tradition that emerged from New York involved children dressing up in all manner of costumes and begging strangers for treats.

These kids would often dress down, wearing poor people’s clothing as a costume, garnering the nickname of Ragamuffins.

Known colloquially in New York City as Ragamuffin Day, the children would go out on the streets and ask, “Anything for Thanksgiving?” They would be rewarded with candies, fruits or even pennies.

Over time, the tradition would expand as the children dressed up as more than just hobos and vagrants. Some would wear face paint, others would put on masks. The tradition, beginning in 1870, actually preceded Halloween’s trick or treating.”

and

“By the 1930s, there were calls from New York Times articles that stated the holiday needed to end, as it was nothing more than an unpleasant distraction for adults.”

HAHHA I think that is how people feel about Halloween today. Thank you for the history lesson. The pictures are very reminiscent of 'Meet me in St. Louis' and how they did Halloween.

I grew up in Queens in the 1950s and 60s, and I never heard of begging people for treats on Thanksgiving. It sounds so odd . . . we're supposed to be thankful on Thanksgiving, not asking for more. Although I'm sure I'd feel differently about it if I were starving.

My mother did this during the Depression to get apples or oranges. She grew up in Hoboken, NJ. As a kid, my friends and I dressed as hobos and did this one thanksgiving. When Mom found out she was horrified because we didn;t need to beg for food.

With the number of street children in the early 1900s and before as was mentioned the children would "dress down" I suspect that it was only done in very middle class or slightly upscale areas. Children begging on the streets was common at that time.

Alisande, I grew up in Queens, NY during the same time. Where in Queens did you live?

I never heard of 'anything for Thanksgiving' either.

Jane