 |
Though he is but one small feature of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Santa Claus is an indispensable part of this Holiday tradition. From the very beginning, his importance has been heavily emphasized, for he serves as a culmination to the entire procession, appearing on a magnificent float as the parade’s finale each year (save in 1933 in which he led the parade, and in 1940 when he represented the letter “S” in the succession of the alphabet).[1] Spectators may be more awed by the fantastic balloons and celebrity appearances, but it is the appearance of Santa that officially marks the end of the parade and the beginning of the Holiday Season.
In the parade’s first year, it was announced that Santa Claus was choosing Thanksgiving Day to come to town, and the parade was heralded as “Santa’s official entry to New York .”[2] He arrived in glorious style, atop a float in the form of a sled driven by reindeer over a mountain of ice. The parade ended before the Macy’s store where Santa was crowned “the King of Kiddies” on a gold throne on the marquee above the entrance to the new store. At his coronation, he sounded a trumpet to announce the unveiling of the store window.[3]
|
In subsequent years, Santa has enjoyed similar glorification, being promoted to ‘royalty’ in the language and visuals of the parade. In the parade’s second year (1925) the language of royalty was again used as he was called “the King of all the children of greater New York .” The message was clear: Santa was king; the children watching the parade were to be his loyal subjects. |
 |
Santa has appeared atop a variety of extravagant floats, from his “roof-top” float of 1929 to his swan-sleigh float of recent years. He has had some more unorthodox vessels as well, such as in 1927, when he arrived in the cockpit of an airplane, and in 1929 when he arrived on a Zeppelin dirigible held to the ground by men dressed as elves (a dirigible is a rigid blimp-like structure).[4]
In a parade tradition, when the ensemble arrives at the Macy’s façade, Santa ascends each year to the marquee and unveils the annual holiday window display.
_________________________
[Images]
Santa in Swan Sleigh image courtesy of: Leo Cloutier <http://www.pbase.com/traderboynh/macys_thanksgiving_day_parade>
Santa close-up image courtesy of: <http://www.lonelypamphleteer.com/ObservDec04.asp>
_________________________
[Citations]
[1] (NY Times) Susanah
[2] (NY Times 1924) Susanah
[3] (NY Times) Susanah
[4] William Leach, Land of desire: merchants, power, and the rise of a new American culture (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993), 331-338.
|
|
