Pageant
Encyclopedia
A medieval pageant is a form of procession
Procession
A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...

 traditionally associated with both secular and religious ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....

s, often with a narrative structure. Pageantry was an important aspect of medieval European seasonal festivals, in particular around the celebration of Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi (feast)
Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...

, which began after the thirteenth century. This festival reenacted the entire history of the world, in processional performance, from Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

's Genesis to the Apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...

, employing hundreds of performers and mobile scenic elements. Plays were performed on mobile stages, called waggons, that traveled through towns so plays could be watched consecutively. Each waggon was sponsored by a guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

 who wrote, designed, and acted in the plays.

Other pageants in the Christian world have centered on Saints' festivals, Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

 (Mardi Gras), and Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

, while vernacular agrarian festivals have celebrated seasonal events such as the harvest, and the Summer and Winter solstices (Midsummer's Night).

Drawing on this medieval tradition contemporary artists such as Bread and Puppet Theater
Bread and Puppet Theater
The Bread and Puppet Theater is a politically radical puppet theater, active since the 1960s, currently based in Glover, Vermont...

, the Welfare State, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre is a puppet company from Minneapolis, Minnesota. HOBT began in 1973 as Powderhorn Puppet Theatre, named for a neighborhood park and lake in Minneapolis, and changed their name in 1979...

, Spiral Q
Spiral Q Puppet Theater
Spiral Q Puppet Theater is a puppet troupe that was founded in 1995 by Matthew "Mattyboy" Hart in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After traveling the country he was inspired by the street performance work of the Radical Faeries and the Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont...

, and Superior Concept Monsters
Superior Concept Monsters
Superior Concept Monsters is an ensemble of performing artists and theatrical technicians devoted to pageant puppetry and processional art. They are best known for creating the large-scale puppet performances that lead New York's Village Halloween Parade...

 have used pageants as a potent community-based performance form.

See also

  • Mystery play
    Mystery play
    Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...

    - Medieval plays focused on the presentation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song.
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