Oh, look! Here he comes! It's Santa Claus! There is reindeer, dasher, dancer, prancer,

vixen, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen, all prancing proudly on their way to Toy Thailand. Who doesn't love a parade? The pomp and

pageantry, the sights and sounds, the communal experience of gathering with friends and family and

neighbors along the parade route, to witness the spectacle, to experience the uncommon,

to get swept away by the carnival-esque atmosphere.

The very idea of a procession, usually involving costumes and music, is at least 4,000 years old.

The earliest kinds of parades were only for religious and military purposes.

Now, of course, there are parades for all kinds of occasions, whether it's to celebrate

a victory, mark the observance of an important event, or herald the start of something important.

Parades do tend to be about celebrating, commemorating, or heralding, sometimes even all three at the

same time, like, for example, a parade to kick off the Christmas season

in grand fashion, like the one we just heard, and we'll get back to that shortly. Of course,

here in America, there are many parades that commence the festive season, large and small,

and big cities and small towns. But the biggest one, of course, is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. That parade

was originally called the Macy's Christmas parade. And it was Macy's department store's

attempt to not only drum up some business for itself, but also to establish the idea that

the Christmas season starts right after Thanksgiving. That was still a pretty new idea when

Macy started its parade back in 1924. Throughout most of Christmas history, the Christmas

season began on Christmas Day itself and lasted for 12 days, the famous 12 days of Christmas,

ending with 12th night. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is Advent, which isn't exactly festive.

That's a time where religious folks engaged in prayer and preparation,

culminating in the vigil of Christmas Eve.

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