When Thanksgiving Was Weird
Thanksgiving maskers, circa 1910-1915. — Bain News Service/Library of CongressOddest thing: Thanksgiving in turn-of-the-20th century America used to look a heckuva lot like Halloween.
People - young and old - got all dressed up and staged costumed crawls through the streets. In Los Angeles, Chicago and other places around the country, newspapers ran stories of folks wearing elaborate masks and cloth veils. Thanksgiving mask balls were held in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Montesano, Wash. and points in between.
In New York City — where the tradition was especially strong — a local newspaper reported in 1911 that “Fantastically garbed youngsters and their elders were on every corner of the city.”
Thousands of folks ran rampant, one syndicated column noted. “Horns and rattles are worked overtime. The throwing of confetti and even flour on pedestrians is an allowable pastime.”
It must have been like a strange American dream.
More: When Thanksgiving Was Weird : The Protojournalist : NPR