pageant
Crowning ceremony event
A pageant is a public spectacle or elaborate display, often involving costumes, processions, and ceremonial elements.
The word most commonly refers to beauty pageants—competitions judging appearance and poise: She competed in the Miss America pageant.
Pageants can also be historical reenactments or theatrical presentations depicting scenes from the past: The town stages an annual Christmas pageant.
The adjective pageantry describes the splendor and ceremony of such events.
Struggle for supremacy
- crownSovereign's ornamental headpiece
- sashWaist-worn cloth strip
- tiaraOrnamental feminine headband
- judgesLegal proceeding overseers
talent · gown · swimsuit · contestants · titleholder · runner-up · platform · interview
Ceremonial public procession
- floatsRemains on surface
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
- extravaganzaLavish, elaborate entertainment
- fanfareCeremonial brass announcement
pomp · display · grandeur · procession · tableau · fireworks · marching · regalia
Ceremony installing a sovereign
- processionFormal moving line
- inaugurationFormal beginning ceremony
- enthronementFormal investiture of sovereign
- investitureCeremony conferring rank
commencement · convocation · dedication · installation · tribute · homage · observance · solemnity
Recreation or staged drama
- dramaTheatrical art or turmoil
- masqueCourtly theatrical entertainment
- pantomimeDrama through gesture alone
- mystery playMedieval dramatization of scripture
morality play · mummery · revue · performance · staging · acting · scenes · dramatization
competition
Struggle for supremacy
judges · talent · gown · swimsuit · contestants · titleholder · runner-up · platform · interview · eveningwear
parade
Ceremonial public procession
- floatsRemains on surface
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
- extravaganzaLavish, elaborate entertainment
fanfare · pomp · display · grandeur · procession · tableau · fireworks · marching · regalia · elaborate
coronation
Ceremony installing a sovereign
- processionFormal moving line
- inaugurationFormal beginning ceremony
- enthronementFormal investiture of sovereign
investiture · commencement · convocation · dedication · installation · tribute · homage · observance · solemnity · regalia
play
Recreation or staged drama
- dramaTheatrical art or turmoil
- masqueCourtly theatrical entertainment
- pantomimeDrama through gesture alone
mystery play · morality play · mummery · revue · performance · staging · acting · scenes · dramatization · spectacle
reenactment
Staged reproduction of events
- tableauStriking pictorial arrangement
- medievalOf the Middle Ages
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
costumes · knights · royalty · courts · heraldry · jousting · masque · period · historical · dramatization
- broadcaststelecast, newscast, news broadcast, live broadcast, simulcast
- children's churchBible stories, Sunday school, children's ministry, memory verses, children's Bible
- Gay Culturerainbow flag, coming out, gay bar, drag queen, Stonewall
- Victorian entertainmentvaudeville, music hall, minstrel show, pantomime, melodrama
- drag ballroomvoguing, ballroom, death drop, house, serve
- Masquesmasques, Inigo Jones, Whitehall, scenic design, stage machinery
pageanthiding
Staying out of sight
concealment · secrecy · cache · disguise · covert operation
pageantsimplicity
Lack of complexity
modesty · austerity · plainness · understatement · minimalism
- beauty pageantAttractiveness and talent contest
- Christmas pageantsStaged holiday birth reenactments
- holiday pageantsCelebratory theatrical presentations
- church pageantReligious community theatrical event
- royal pageantryFormal monarchical display traditions
- pageant girlsCompetitors in beauty contests