The Cowbellion de Rakin Society was the first formally organized and masked mystic society in the United States to celebrate with a pedestrian parade in 1830.

[1] The Cowbellions got their start when a young merchant and cotton factor from Pennsylvania, Michael Krafft, began a parade with rakes, hoes, and cowbells.

[2] The Cowbellions introduced horse-drawn floats to the parades in 1840 with a parade entitled, "Heathen Gods and Goddesses.

[3][4]

1837 account of the Cowbellion celebrations of Christmas and New Year.