1/8/2024 0 Comments Yasu brooklineIt started at the corner of Washington and Cypress Streets, marched down Washington through Brookline Village to the firehouse, and then west on Boylston back to Cypress and Cypress Field. So a time came when it was customary in country villages to burlesque it by a Fourth-of-July parade of."Antiques and Horribles".Nowadays, "Antique" is omitted from the title but it is still customary that part of the costumes try to look as antiquated as possible while others try to look as frowzy as possible.Īccording to Yankee Magazine, "the disorderly and drunken training days that characterized the last years of compulsory militia service" may also have had something to do with the rise of the Antiques & Horribles.Īntiques & Horribles in Brookline and Beyondīrookline's 1891 Independence Day celebration, like those of other years, began at 7 am with an Antiques & Horribles parade. "Ancients and Honorables".the variegated display of diverse uniforms on unathletic figures looked comic to a visitor who had not been brought up to reverence the Company's high status. The result was that on such occasions of state as called for a parade of the. Here's how UCLA linguist William Matthews (in the journal American Speech, October 1940) described the rise of the "Horribles" as a reaction to the Ancients and Honorables:Īs it became a body of eminent citizens who had the taste for military organization, of course practically every member was an officer of this of that other regiment and the members personally were not snappy young cadets with reputations to make and physiques that needed no making, but solid burghers who had gone beyond their youth in becoming eminent by activities that did not involve keeping the body in fighting condition. The "Ancients & Honorables," as they are called, are "the oldest chartered military organization in the Western hemisphere." Formed in 1638 "to train young gentleman officers for service in the various militias of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," the company has taken part in Independence Day celebrations since the earliest days of the nation.īy the middle of the 19th century, the Ancients and Honorables, by then a largely symbolic organization, were ripe for parody. Members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts on parade.ġ920s photo from the Leslie Jones Collection, Boston Public Library The tradition probably began in the 1840s - the earliest known example is in Lowell in 1851 - as a parody of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. Their satire and broad parody were often aimed at authority, women, and foreigners." The horribles, according to Yankee Magazine, "used elaborate costumes, masks, blackface, cross-dressing, and other disguise to illustrate gender and class reversal. Local residents would dress up as "antiques"- figures from the past - or "horribles"- characters in strange and often grotesque or macabre guise. It's still celebrated in several towns today. The Antiques & Horribles - sometimes shortened to the "Horribles Parade"- was an annual event in Brookline and many other towns in the second half of 19th century and into the early 20th century. The answer may lie in an old New England tradition: the Antiques & Horribles parade on the Fourth of July. (Compare it to this photo of the same firehouse decorated a decade or so later.)Īnd yet, according to an account in the Boston Post, "The building occupied by the Hose 1 and Engine 1 companies was the most tastefully decorated in the town, and was awarded the prize of $10 as such." And there's a stuffed figure of a fireman on the top, in front of the tower. It's also bunched up on the lower left - not exactly proper flag decorum - and the white stripes so white. The bunting looks twisted and sloppily hung.
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