Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Holidays tend to evolve the longer they are celebrated.
Speaker 1: What we know is Christmas today started centuries ago as
Speaker 1: other separate holidays. Europeans celebrated the winter Solstice, while the
Speaker 1: Germanic people celebrated Yule pagan festival held towards the end
Speaker 1: of December, and the ancient Romans honored Saturn, the god
Speaker 1: of agriculture, every December with their Saturnalia festival event. The
Speaker 1: aspects of these winter celebrations were borrowed and blended into
Speaker 1: one holiday, celebrating the Birth of Jesus on December. As
Speaker 1: times change, so to do our traditions. But even some
Speaker 1: newer holidays have undergone significant shifts over the years. In fact,
Speaker 1: in America, one of the most important days of the
Speaker 1: year for getting together with friends and family also used
Speaker 1: to be the most mischievous It originated in New York
Speaker 1: City around eighteen sixty three, a new national holiday had
Speaker 1: just been established by President Abraham Lincoln, and it gave
Speaker 1: children all over the country some much needed time off
Speaker 1: from school. In New York, where impoverished immigrant children were
Speaker 1: often left to their own devices, that meant time to
Speaker 1: goof around. You see, these kids would wear costumes, often
Speaker 1: dressing up like hoboes and tattered clothes, fake mustaches, and
Speaker 1: even wigs. Then they would go around the city knocking
Speaker 1: on doors asking neighbors for treats, and they weren't just
Speaker 1: after candy either. Any food item was acceptable. Apples, vegetables, cake,
Speaker 1: and in some cases small toys were happily taken as
Speaker 1: trophies for their efforts. As the years went on, their
Speaker 1: costumes became more elaborate. Masks bought from local stores were introduced,
Speaker 1: as were new themes for their costumes. Some kids dressed
Speaker 1: up as business workers, while others were made to look
Speaker 1: like animals. They also didn't shy away from raiding their
Speaker 1: mother's closets for inspiration. Old dresses and shoes became prime
Speaker 1: costume materials for both boys and girls looking to go
Speaker 1: all out on the most fun day of the year.
Speaker 1: But the most part the children who participated did so
Speaker 1: without incidents, but there were many who went beyond simply
Speaker 1: asking for goodies. They would throw handfuls of flower or
Speaker 1: confetti at people on the streets, or sit on the
Speaker 1: fenders of cars driving by to catch a quick ride
Speaker 1: up the block. The more dangerous children weren't above damaging
Speaker 1: property either, especially if they had been denied food or
Speaker 1: money while at someone's door, and it wasn't uncommon to
Speaker 1: see a bonfire in the middle of the street, kids
Speaker 1: laughing and tossing wooden scraps into its roaring flames. This
Speaker 1: tradition carried on through the eighteen hundreds and well into
Speaker 1: the early part of the twentieth century as a holiday
Speaker 1: called Ragamuffin Day. Eventually, so many Ragamuffin Day revelers were
Speaker 1: participating that their march through the streets became known as
Speaker 1: the Ragamuffin Parade. Adults would come out of their homes
Speaker 1: to stand on the sidelines and watch the kids walk by,
Speaker 1: admiring their funny and often unique costumes. Of course, not
Speaker 1: everyone loved Ragamuffin Day. In the nineteen thirties, for example,
Speaker 1: the New York Times started running hit pieces on the
Speaker 1: yearly pastime as the Great Depression raged on. It seemed
Speaker 1: in poor taste for children to mock the homeless and
Speaker 1: the less fortunate by dressing up and begging for food
Speaker 1: from people who didn't have any to share, and the
Speaker 1: smear campaign worked. By the mid nineteen fifties, Ragamuffin Day
Speaker 1: had run its course. But not to worry. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a race for good. We just celebrate it differently now
Speaker 1: as the Thanksgiving That's right, Ragamuffin Day started as a
Speaker 1: result of the Thanksgiving holiday. Outside of New York, it
Speaker 1: was known as Thanksgiving Masking and the parade, with its
Speaker 1: silly costumes and crowds of people. Well, that was overtaken
Speaker 1: by the department store Macy's as their annual Thanksgiving Day parade.
Speaker 1: But Ragamuffin Day wasn't gone forever. In the nineteen forties,
Speaker 1: the concept of wearing a costume and asking neighbors for
Speaker 1: treats was rolled into a different celebration held one month earlier, Halloween.
Speaker 1: The Greek philosopher hero Clidas often is quoted as saying
Speaker 1: change is the only constant in life, and he's right
Speaker 1: holidays change all the time, but dressing up and begging
Speaker 1: for candy from strangers, well, I hope that never goes
Speaker 1: out of style. We call them the Founding Fathers because
Speaker 1: without them, America wouldn't be quite America. In the seventeen hundreds,
Speaker 1: they united the Thirteen Colonies in a revolt against Britain's
Speaker 1: oppressive King George. During the Revolutionary War, We're familiar with
Speaker 1: one of the most famous, a general who lost more
Speaker 1: battles than he won, but was successful in leading his
Speaker 1: men across the Potomac. That man was George Washington, the
Speaker 1: first President of the United States. There were others, of course,
Speaker 1: depending on which list you read, there are seven, maybe
Speaker 1: eight who make the list over fifty six if you
Speaker 1: add every signature on the Declaration of Independence, though there's
Speaker 1: an odd fact Washington, John j James Madison, and Alexander
Speaker 1: Hamilton's did not sign the Declaration of Independence in seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy six. Of course, an additional three other documents helped
Speaker 1: create the United States. The Treaty of Alliance in seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy eight, the Treaty of Peace between England, France and
Speaker 1: the US in seventeen eighty two and the Constitution in
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty seven. Regardless of many founding fathers you choose
Speaker 1: to consider, they worked together to create a new government.
Speaker 1: I suppose you'd say that there was a lot of
Speaker 1: firsts that came from that list. One sat on a
Speaker 1: committee of five that helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 1: Only one member signed all four documents that helped form
Speaker 1: the nation. Many were highly educated, coming from Harvard, Yale,
Speaker 1: and Oxford, but only one held honorary degrees from all
Speaker 1: three schools despite having only two years of formal education.
Speaker 1: There were the inventors in the bunch too. Mozart once
Speaker 1: wrote music for a glass harmonica, one of the men
Speaker 1: created after noticing performers using glasses to create a musical sound.
Speaker 1: A particularly talented founding father also played the violin, the harp,
Speaker 1: and the guitar. There were writers as well as artists.
Speaker 1: At just sixteen, one founding father wrote a popular newspaper
Speaker 1: column under a pseudonym as a widowed woman. The columns
Speaker 1: became so popular that he received several marriage proposals from
Speaker 1: Boston's most eligible batchler's before confessing his identity. Then there's
Speaker 1: the Avid Swimmer who once swam London's Thames, believing that
Speaker 1: all children should learn to swim. He later started a
Speaker 1: swimming school, and because of this he was posthumously inducted
Speaker 1: into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The very first
Speaker 1: United States postmaster was also a founding father, as was
Speaker 1: the ambassador to France, dubbed America's renaissance man. There was
Speaker 1: the fashion trend setter whose fur hats spawned a fashion
Speaker 1: trend overseas. America's first celebrity also signed the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 1: Whenever he visited Europe, he had no shortage of female
Speaker 1: admirers who followed him everywhere. That one public appearance, his
Speaker 1: fans placed a crown of laurels on his head and
Speaker 1: kissed each cheek. In France, the French National Assembly declared
Speaker 1: a day of morning when one founding father passed away.
Speaker 1: Today there's a statue of him in Yorktown Square. Count
Speaker 1: Mirabeu said that he was able to restrain thunderbolts and tyrants.
Speaker 1: There were abolitionists too. One kept fighting against slavery until
Speaker 1: his death, even including a provision in his will that
Speaker 1: his son and daughter wouldn't receive a penny of their
Speaker 1: inheritance if they ever kept slaves. And speaking of wills,
Speaker 1: consider the gift left by one founding father to Boston
Speaker 1: and Philadelphia. He left the city's two thousand pounds sterling
Speaker 1: with an unusual request. The money had to stay in
Speaker 1: a trust fund for one hundred years and used only
Speaker 1: to provide loans to local tradesmen. That money became worth
Speaker 1: millions by That's a lot of amazing history, But the
Speaker 1: most amazing part it was all the work of just
Speaker 1: one founding father, not many. A man everyone's heard of
Speaker 1: but knows so little about, Benjamin Franklin. I hope you've
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosity Cities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,