Procession

A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. A procession may be arranged for a variety of purposes, including to advertise something, signal a change in government, display a group's power, show solidarity for a cause, mark the beginning or end of an event such as a wedding or funeral, entertain a crowd, or practice a religion. Processions have been an aspect of celebrations and ceremonies since ancient times, and they are practiced in some form throughout all cultures. They often involve a mode of transport, such as a carriage or a car; music or vocalizations, including a choir or a marching band; a visual signal of a hierarchy within the precession; and the display of eye-catching items like banners.

History

Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious and triumphal processions are abundantly illustrated by ancient monuments, e.g. the religious processions of Egypt, those illustrated by the rock-carvings of Boghaz-Keui, the many representations of processions in Greek art, culminating in the great Panathenaic procession of the Parthenon Frieze, and Roman triumphal reliefs, such as those of the arch of Titus.

Greco-Roman practice

Processions played a prominent part in the great festivals of Greece, where they were always religious in character. The games were either opened or accompanied by more or less elaborate processions and sacrifices, while processions from the earliest times formed part of the worship of the old nature gods, as those connected with the cult of Dionysus and the Phallic processions, and later formed an essential part of the celebration of the great religious festivals (e.g. the processions of the Thesmophoria, and that of the Great Dionysia), and of the mysteries (e.g.