ABSTRACT
During the 19th century, urban space became the theater for civic rituals commemorating past events, which in turn became popular mass spectacles. Traditional processions, originally a feature of religious or royal ceremonies, transformed into standardized military and nonmilitary parades – which were nevertheless militarized – reaching their peak in the Interwar period. Historical pageants linked to local or national anniversaries, “reviving” episodes of the collective past for the entertainment of an ever-expanding audience, inundated urban centers across Europe and the US. The eighth chapter analyzes the festive procession as “the staging of history”, as a commemorative ritual evoking the memory of some historical event significant for the community’s identity. Two versions of urban procession are examined: the parade (military, student, royal) that takes place on the occasion of some historical anniversary (mainly the national holiday of 25 March); and the historical pageant, the ritual representation of the past through successive appearances of images, figures and episodes, as was the case of the “historical rituals” held by the Lyceum Club of Greek Women in the Panathenaic Stadium at Athens from the 1910s until 1929. Emphasis is put on the transnational European dimension of these cultural phenomena.
