November 25, 2025 • 10 mins
Thanksgiving is… the best. Whether you celebrate with family, friends, or even on your own… what makes it the best is the focus on gratitude. At least a dozen countries celebrate with a day or days of gratitude. But… what about all those traditions? Did a few big-time influencers impact when we celebrate, how we celebrate, what we eat, and in our parts… even the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Where did all those traditions come from and how have they evolved?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah. Thanksgiving my favorite holiday because it's all about gratitude
rather than what we get. We talk about giving thanks
but the idea of setting aside time to express gratitude
is not uniquely American. There are at least a dozen
countries that have similar holidays, and for all of us,
Thanksgiving is packed with tradition. But where did they all begin?
(00:22):
Sixteen twenty one may have been the first American celebration,
but our traditions, like when it takes place, what we eat,
and of course the holiday defining Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade
only evolved in the past one hundred or one hundred
and fifty years. I'm Patti Steele a deeper look at
Thanksgiving next on the backstory. We're back with the backstory.
(00:47):
Thanksgiving traditions just make us feel happy, cozy, and safe
because they're kind of embedded in our core from our
earliest memories. And that's true even when we have to
deal with the occasional annoying relative or side dishes that
were not crazy about personally not a big fan of
candied yams. But for us, Thanksgiving is all about food, family,
(01:10):
and festivity and maybe some football. Most of all, it's
about gratitude. However, so how did the way we celebrate start? Well,
we know the story of the first Thanksgiving in sixteen
twenty one, but it wasn't anything close to how we
celebrate these days. Family feasts with turkey, overeating, parades, football
(01:32):
all came about a whole lot later. Actually, the whole
idea of a feast this time of year originated with
immigrants who in their origin countries were used to holding
harvest festivals in late autumn. So the idea of celebrating
the harvest and getting ready to hunker down for the
winter grew out of that earlier tradition. As for what
(01:53):
we eat, it turns out the first Thanksgiving in our
part of the world probably didn't focus on turkey. Historians
say that the first feast was likely roasted deer ducks
and geese, but turkey not so much. There were plenty
of wild turkeys across the Northeast in those early days,
but the feast was more about whatever was close at hand,
(02:15):
and deer ducks and geese were abundant in those days.
But all that changed because eventually on farms, turkeys were
only raised for meat, unlike cattle or even chickens, which
provided milk and eggs, so you wanted to hang on
to them. Turkeys were always handy for the dinner table.
But get this a guy who was a very popular
(02:37):
early influencer. The guy who popularized roasted turkey was Charles Dickens,
a wildly influential British author who wrote A Christmas Carol,
among other things. That story featured a giant turkey, which
was celebrated as the ultimate Christmas feast. Published in eighteen
forty three, A Christmas Carol was so popular it made
(03:00):
turkey the star of the show for most feasts. By
the mid eighteen fifties, Americans were infatuated with Dickens, reading
everything he wrote and clamoring for tickets to his cross
country tours, in which he did readings from his books
and short stories. So we can thank Dickens a brid
for defining our American Thanksgiving feast. Oh, and why do
(03:23):
we celebrate Thanksgiving when we celebrate it? Well? Through the
seventeen hundreds and into the eighteen hundreds, a day of
Thanksgiving was set aside at various times, mostly in October
for the harvest. But in eighteen sixty three, Abraham Lincoln
declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, and he set it for
the last Thursday in November, coinciding with the dates that
(03:45):
the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth two hundred and forty two
years earlier. It wasn't until nineteen thirty nine that Thanksgiving
was permanently set as the fourth Thursday in November, so
as to stretch the holiday shopping season in years where
it may have come late in the month. This year,
of course, Thanksgiving is on November twenty seventh, while last
(04:07):
year it was on the twenty eighth, literally the latest
date it could possibly be and still just be the
fourth Thursday of November. One of the early traditions in
America was called Ragamuffin Day, very much like Halloween later on,
in which kids would dress up and go door to
door begging for goodies on Thanksgiving. It lasted from eighteen
(04:28):
seventy to the early nineteen twenties, when adults just kind
of got sick of it, and that was just in
time for something new, the wonderful Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now,
if you're like me, you might have vivid memories of
going to the parade or the balloon inflation the night before,
or sitting in front of the TV Thanksgiving morning watching
(04:49):
the parade while your mom and dad, along with various
relatives began stuffing the turkey and getting it into the oven.
For me, it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without at least
a peak at the parade. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
actually began one hundred and one years ago, So it's
nineteen twenty four. You're in the heart of New York
(05:09):
City in the roaring twenties. Macy's department store wants to
celebrate its success and also thank customers for their loyalty.
What can they do to make it larger than just
a shopping experience? Well inspired by festive European traditions, Macy's employees,
a lot of them recent immigrants, suggest a parade. Imagine
(05:31):
the scene. Brilliant costumes, floats made mostly with flowers, and
marching bands. In those days, there were no balloons, so
they borrowed animals for the parade from the Central Park Zoo.
There were elephants, camels, and bears marching down New York
City streets with two hundred and fifty thousand people on
the sidelines. What could go wrong. The parade wrote was
(05:55):
six miles long. It was a huge way to kick
off the holiday season, and it grew every year. Problem is,
the animals were scared and exhausted by the six mile march.
By the end of the parade route, they were difficult
to manage and kind of angry. Their growls scared the
heck out of the kids along the route. Plus as
the crowds grew, the animals were hard to see. So
(06:18):
nineteen twenty seven becomes a pivotal year. That's when Macy's
Parade organizers introduced the first giant balloon to replace the
hard to manage animals. Felix the Cat was the very
first balloon, although it actually wasn't helium filled, it was
filled with air and handlers held it up by poles
as they marched through city streets. In nineteen twenty eight,
(06:42):
helium allowed some of the balloons to soar, and for
the next four years, organizers would release the balloons at
the end of the parade route. Folks who found them
got a prize. You can imagine why. They put an
end to giant balloons falling to earth and people racing
to find them. Now each year more balloons representing the
pop culture of the day appear along with the classics.
(07:06):
The thing about the parade is it's pretty much always
been there in good times and bad. The depression years
were difficult, but Macy's continued with it since it provided
a much needed escape and a bit of happiness for folks.
The parade was first broadcast on TV on an experimental
station in the New York City area in nineteen thirty nine.
(07:27):
There was no TV coverage in nineteen forty or nineteen
forty one, and then the war World War II paused
the parade from nineteen forty two to nineteen forty four,
when the rubber and helium for the balloons was donated
to the war effort. But on its return in nineteen
forty five, it was on national TV for the very
(07:48):
first time. That was the moment. Families across the country,
if they had access to a TV, were able to
experience the magic. It's such an important part of our traditions.
Even the pandemic didn't totally shut it down. In what
was a stealth operation to keep crowds from gathering, Macy's
brought various floats and balloons to different areas of New
(08:11):
York City and film segments at various times ahead of time,
then stitching it all together for a broadcast that helped
calm people's nerves and made them feel like things would
be all right. So this parade is not just about
the balloons and the floats. It's about the generations of
families who've watched from home or who've lined the streets
(08:33):
of Manhattan, the performers and artists on its floaks and stages,
and the countless folks behind the scenes who've brought this
glittering show to life year after year. As we watched
the balloons navigate the city's canyons, we have to remember
the journey from a simple, heartfelt gesture by a group
of Macy's employees to a beloved national phenomenon. The Macy's
(08:56):
Thanksgiving Day Parade is a testament to the power of
imaginating and the enduring appeal of share, joy and wonder.
The parade has become a cultural touchstone, linking generations by
reflecting our heritage and also the times in which we live.
From the Roaring twenties to the digital age, the parade
has been a constant, evolving with us while maintaining its
(09:20):
wonder and excitement and letting us share some innocence. And
that's the universality and beauty of giving thanks. India, Malaysia,
South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam all celebrate the harvest and
give thanks for the workers for their contributions. Germany, Canada, Brazil, Barbados,
Liberia and Ghana also celebrate gratitude for the harvest. So
(09:44):
however you celebrate, whoever you're with, whatever you're feasting on,
remember that Thanksgiving is simply a day to take a
breath and think about what you're grateful for. Have a
wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele.
Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
(10:05):
and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
(10:25):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
Ah. Thanksgiving my favorite holiday because it's all about gratitude
rather than what we get. We talk about giving thanks
but the idea of setting aside time to express gratitude
is not uniquely American. There are at least a dozen
countries that have similar holidays, and for all of us,
Thanksgiving is packed with tradition. But where did they all begin?
(00:22):
Sixteen twenty one may have been the first American celebration,
but our traditions, like when it takes place, what we eat,
and of course the holiday defining Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade
only evolved in the past one hundred or one hundred
and fifty years. I'm Patti Steele a deeper look at
Thanksgiving next on the backstory. We're back with the backstory.
(00:47):
Thanksgiving traditions just make us feel happy, cozy, and safe
because they're kind of embedded in our core from our
earliest memories. And that's true even when we have to
deal with the occasional annoying relative or side dishes that
were not crazy about personally not a big fan of
candied yams. But for us, Thanksgiving is all about food, family,
(01:10):
and festivity and maybe some football. Most of all, it's
about gratitude. However, so how did the way we celebrate start? Well,
we know the story of the first Thanksgiving in sixteen
twenty one, but it wasn't anything close to how we
celebrate these days. Family feasts with turkey, overeating, parades, football
(01:32):
all came about a whole lot later. Actually, the whole
idea of a feast this time of year originated with
immigrants who in their origin countries were used to holding
harvest festivals in late autumn. So the idea of celebrating
the harvest and getting ready to hunker down for the
winter grew out of that earlier tradition. As for what
(01:53):
we eat, it turns out the first Thanksgiving in our
part of the world probably didn't focus on turkey. Historians
say that the first feast was likely roasted deer ducks
and geese, but turkey not so much. There were plenty
of wild turkeys across the Northeast in those early days,
but the feast was more about whatever was close at hand,
(02:15):
and deer ducks and geese were abundant in those days.
But all that changed because eventually on farms, turkeys were
only raised for meat, unlike cattle or even chickens, which
provided milk and eggs, so you wanted to hang on
to them. Turkeys were always handy for the dinner table.
But get this a guy who was a very popular
(02:37):
early influencer. The guy who popularized roasted turkey was Charles Dickens,
a wildly influential British author who wrote A Christmas Carol,
among other things. That story featured a giant turkey, which
was celebrated as the ultimate Christmas feast. Published in eighteen
forty three, A Christmas Carol was so popular it made
(03:00):
turkey the star of the show for most feasts. By
the mid eighteen fifties, Americans were infatuated with Dickens, reading
everything he wrote and clamoring for tickets to his cross
country tours, in which he did readings from his books
and short stories. So we can thank Dickens a brid
for defining our American Thanksgiving feast. Oh, and why do
(03:23):
we celebrate Thanksgiving when we celebrate it? Well? Through the
seventeen hundreds and into the eighteen hundreds, a day of
Thanksgiving was set aside at various times, mostly in October
for the harvest. But in eighteen sixty three, Abraham Lincoln
declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, and he set it for
the last Thursday in November, coinciding with the dates that
(03:45):
the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth two hundred and forty two
years earlier. It wasn't until nineteen thirty nine that Thanksgiving
was permanently set as the fourth Thursday in November, so
as to stretch the holiday shopping season in years where
it may have come late in the month. This year,
of course, Thanksgiving is on November twenty seventh, while last
(04:07):
year it was on the twenty eighth, literally the latest
date it could possibly be and still just be the
fourth Thursday of November. One of the early traditions in
America was called Ragamuffin Day, very much like Halloween later on,
in which kids would dress up and go door to
door begging for goodies on Thanksgiving. It lasted from eighteen
(04:28):
seventy to the early nineteen twenties, when adults just kind
of got sick of it, and that was just in
time for something new, the wonderful Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now,
if you're like me, you might have vivid memories of
going to the parade or the balloon inflation the night before,
or sitting in front of the TV Thanksgiving morning watching
(04:49):
the parade while your mom and dad, along with various
relatives began stuffing the turkey and getting it into the oven.
For me, it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without at least
a peak at the parade. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
actually began one hundred and one years ago, So it's
nineteen twenty four. You're in the heart of New York
(05:09):
City in the roaring twenties. Macy's department store wants to
celebrate its success and also thank customers for their loyalty.
What can they do to make it larger than just
a shopping experience? Well inspired by festive European traditions, Macy's employees,
a lot of them recent immigrants, suggest a parade. Imagine
(05:31):
the scene. Brilliant costumes, floats made mostly with flowers, and
marching bands. In those days, there were no balloons, so
they borrowed animals for the parade from the Central Park Zoo.
There were elephants, camels, and bears marching down New York
City streets with two hundred and fifty thousand people on
the sidelines. What could go wrong. The parade wrote was
(05:55):
six miles long. It was a huge way to kick
off the holiday season, and it grew every year. Problem is,
the animals were scared and exhausted by the six mile march.
By the end of the parade route, they were difficult
to manage and kind of angry. Their growls scared the
heck out of the kids along the route. Plus as
the crowds grew, the animals were hard to see. So
(06:18):
nineteen twenty seven becomes a pivotal year. That's when Macy's
Parade organizers introduced the first giant balloon to replace the
hard to manage animals. Felix the Cat was the very
first balloon, although it actually wasn't helium filled, it was
filled with air and handlers held it up by poles
as they marched through city streets. In nineteen twenty eight,
(06:42):
helium allowed some of the balloons to soar, and for
the next four years, organizers would release the balloons at
the end of the parade route. Folks who found them
got a prize. You can imagine why. They put an
end to giant balloons falling to earth and people racing
to find them. Now each year more balloons representing the
pop culture of the day appear along with the classics.
(07:06):
The thing about the parade is it's pretty much always
been there in good times and bad. The depression years
were difficult, but Macy's continued with it since it provided
a much needed escape and a bit of happiness for folks.
The parade was first broadcast on TV on an experimental
station in the New York City area in nineteen thirty nine.
(07:27):
There was no TV coverage in nineteen forty or nineteen
forty one, and then the war World War II paused
the parade from nineteen forty two to nineteen forty four,
when the rubber and helium for the balloons was donated
to the war effort. But on its return in nineteen
forty five, it was on national TV for the very
(07:48):
first time. That was the moment. Families across the country,
if they had access to a TV, were able to
experience the magic. It's such an important part of our traditions.
Even the pandemic didn't totally shut it down. In what
was a stealth operation to keep crowds from gathering, Macy's
brought various floats and balloons to different areas of New
(08:11):
York City and film segments at various times ahead of time,
then stitching it all together for a broadcast that helped
calm people's nerves and made them feel like things would
be all right. So this parade is not just about
the balloons and the floats. It's about the generations of
families who've watched from home or who've lined the streets
(08:33):
of Manhattan, the performers and artists on its floaks and stages,
and the countless folks behind the scenes who've brought this
glittering show to life year after year. As we watched
the balloons navigate the city's canyons, we have to remember
the journey from a simple, heartfelt gesture by a group
of Macy's employees to a beloved national phenomenon. The Macy's
(08:56):
Thanksgiving Day Parade is a testament to the power of
imaginating and the enduring appeal of share, joy and wonder.
The parade has become a cultural touchstone, linking generations by
reflecting our heritage and also the times in which we live.
From the Roaring twenties to the digital age, the parade
has been a constant, evolving with us while maintaining its
(09:20):
wonder and excitement and letting us share some innocence. And
that's the universality and beauty of giving thanks. India, Malaysia,
South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam all celebrate the harvest and
give thanks for the workers for their contributions. Germany, Canada, Brazil, Barbados,
Liberia and Ghana also celebrate gratitude for the harvest. So
(09:44):
however you celebrate, whoever you're with, whatever you're feasting on,
remember that Thanksgiving is simply a day to take a
breath and think about what you're grateful for. Have a
wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele.
Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
(10:05):
and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
(10:25):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
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