Procession. A familiar, well-known word. But if you are asked to describe exactly what it is, what would you say? What is the dictionary definition of this word? How to tell a foreigner what "procession" means without going through all the videos of all possible processions? Let's try to understand this word and, perhaps, discover something new in the process.
What is this?
Dictionary definitions of this word, as you might guess, there are quite a lot. Let's consider some of them. F. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron in his encyclopedic dictionary gives the following description of the procession:
Procession (from the Latin procedere - to move forward) - in a broad sense, any solemn and public procession of many people in general, in particular - a solemn procession of the clergy with various sacred objects.
And in the Explanatory Dictionary of Foreign Words L. P. Krysin, newer than the dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron, the word "procession" is explained as follows:
Procession, w. (Polish.procesia<lat.prōcēssio moving forward). Ceremonial procession. Funeral P.
In the more modern New Dictionary of the Russian Language, T. F. Ephraim, the word "procession" already has two meanings. According to its definition, a procession is:
- A solemn, usually crowded procession.
- A long line of moving people, cars, etc.
To summarize, a procession is a solemn public procession, secular or religious in nature, as well as a long line of moving objects in general.
What are processions and how are they characterized?
Based on the definition, the question arises as to if the processions can be different, therefore, the processions can be of different types? Yes it is. And here are their main types:
- funeral;
- wedding;
- festive;
- carnival;
- religious;
- coronation.
In addition, there are many colorful definitions for the word "procession". For example, a procession can be solemn, magnificent, flowery, bright, colorful, or it can be mournful, mournful, gloomy, sad. It can be slow, imposing, majestic, it can be triumphant, even pretentious. And the procession can be endless. Or endless. It may be noisy, or it may be silent. She can be both unusual and strange.
Interesting facts
The mostthe longest coronation procession in history stretched for almost ten kilometers. Such a record was set in 1937 by the British King George VI and his wife Elizabeth. On the way from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, the freshly minted monarchs waved to the cheering crowd during the solemn ceremony, researchers say as many as eight hundred and fifty-two times!
But the largest funeral in history was the procession of the first elected non-Congress chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu S. N. Annaduraya, which took place in 1969. Fifteen million people gathered for the funeral of the beloved and respected minister.
