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PAGEANT

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 451 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAGEANT , in its most See also:

general sense a show or spectacle; the more specific meanings are involved in the See also:etymology of the word and its connexion with the See also:history of the See also:early See also:mystery plays (see See also:DRAMA). In its early forms, dating from the 14th See also:century, the word is pagyn or pagen, the excrescent t or d, as in " See also:tyrant," " See also:ancient," not appearing till later. The Med. See also:Lat. See also:equivalent is pagina, and this, or at least the See also:root from which it is formed, must be taken as the source. The senses, however, in which the word is used, viz. See also:stage, See also:platform, or See also:scene played on a stage, are not those of the classical Lat. pagina, a See also:page of a See also:book, nor do they apparently occur in the See also:medieval Latin of any See also:language other than See also:English. Further, it is not clear which meaning comes first, platform or scene. If the last, then " scene," i.e. a See also:division of a See also:play, might develop out of " page " of a book. If not, then pagina is a fresh formation from the root pag of pangere, to See also:fix or fasten, the word meaning a fastened framework of See also:wood forming a stage or platform; cf. the classical use of compago, structure. Others take pagina as a See also:translation of Gr. irilyµa, platform, stage, a word from the same root pag-. Du Cange (Glossarium) quotes a use in Med. Lat. of pegma in this sense, Machina lignea in qua statuae collocabantur, and See also:Cotgrave gives " Pegmate, a stage or See also:frame whereon pageants be set or carried." As has been said, " pageant " is first found in the sense of a scene, a division or See also:part of a play or of the platform on which such scene was played in the medieval drama. Thus we read of See also:Queen See also:Margaret in 1457 that at See also:Coventry she saw " alle the pagentes pleyde See also:save domesday which myght not be pleyde for lak of See also:day," and in the accounts of the Smiths' gild at Coventry for 1450, five pence is paid " to bring the pageni into gosford-stret." A clear See also:idea of what these stages were like when the mystery plays became processional (processus) that is, were acted on See also:separate platforms moving along a See also:street is seen in See also:Archdeacon See also:Roger's contemporary See also:account of th See also:Chester plays about the end of the 16th century.

" The mane of these playes weare, every See also:

company had his pagiant, or parte which pageants weare a high scafolde with 2 rowmes, a higher and a See also:lower, upon 4 wheeles " (T. See also:Sharp, Dissertation on tl Pageants or Mysteries at Coventry, 1825, which contains mos. of the early references to the word). The movable platform, fillei with emblematic or allegorical figures, naturally played an See also:im portant part in processional shows with no See also:dialogue or dramatis See also:action. An instance (1432) of the practice and the use of th word is found in the Munimenta gildhallae londiniensis (ed See also:Riley), " Parabatur machina in cujus medio stabat gigas mirae magnitudinis .. . . ex utroque latere . in eadem pagina erigebantur duo animalia vocata antelops." At See also:Anne See also:Boleyn's See also:coronation, See also:June 1, 1533, one " pageant " contained figures of See also:Apollo and the See also:Muses, another represented a See also:castle, with " a heavenly roof and under it upon a See also:green was a root or stock, whereout sprang a multitude of See also:white and red See also:roses " (See also:Arber, English Garner, ii. 47, quoted in the New English See also:Dictionary). Such " pageants " formed a feature, in a somewhat degraded shape, in the See also:annual See also:lord See also:mayor's show in See also:London. The development in meaning from " moving platform " to that of a " processional spectacle " or " show " is obvious. The 20th century has seen in See also:England what may in some respects be looked on as a revival but in general as a new departure in the shape of semi-dramatic See also:spectacles illustrative of the history of a See also:town or locality; to such spectacles the name of " Pageant " has been appropriately given. Coventry in its procession in See also:commemoration of See also:Lady See also:Godiva's traditional exploit, has since 1678 illustrated an incident, however mythical, in the history of the town, and many of the ancient cities of the See also:continent of See also:Europe, as See also:Siena, See also:Bruges, See also:Nuremberg, &c., have had, and still have, at intervals a procession of persons in the costumes of various periods, and of figures emblematical of the towns' associations and history. The See also:modern pageant is far removed from a See also:mere procession in dumb show, however See also:bright with See also:colour and interesting from an See also:historical or See also:artistic point of view such may be made. It consists of a See also:series of scenes, representing historical events directly connected with the town or locality in which the pageant takes See also:place.

These are accompanied by appropriate dialogue, speeches, songs, &c., and with See also:

music and dances. The effect is naturally much heightened by the place of the performance, more particularly if this is the actual site of some of the scenes depicted, as at the See also:Winchester Pageant (1908) where the background was formed by the ruins of Wolvesey Castle. The See also:Sherborne pageant of 1905 was the first of the series of pageants. In 1907 and 1908 they became very numerous; of these the See also:principal may be mentioned, those at See also:Oxford, See also:Bury St See also:Edmunds in 1907; at Winchester, See also:Chelsea, See also:Dover and See also:Pevensey in 1908; and that of the English See also:Church at See also:Fulham See also:Palace 1909, a peculiarly interesting example of a pageant connected with an institution and not a locality. The artistic success of a pageant depends on the beauty or historic See also:interest of its site, the skilful choice of episodes and dramatic incidents, the grouping and massing of colour, and the appropriateness of the dialogue, speeches and incidental music. It is here that the skill and See also:talent of the writer, designer or director of the pageant find See also:scope. The name of the dramatist See also:Louis N. See also:Parker (b. 1852), the author of the Sherborne pageant, the earliest and one of the most successful, must always be associated with the See also:movement, of which he was the originator. More important, perhaps, than the aesthetic See also:pleasure given is the educational effect produced not only on the spectators but also on the performers. The essence of the pageant is that all who take part are residents in the place and locality, that the costumes and accessories should be made locally, and that all classes and all ages should See also:share in a See also:common See also:enthusiasm for the bringing back in the most vivid See also:form the past history, often forgotten, in which all should feel they have an equal and common part. (C.

End of Article: PAGEANT

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