Procession. A familiar, familiar word. But if you are asked to describe exactly what it is, what will you answer? What is the dictionary definition of this word? How to tell a foreigner what “procession” means without going through all the videos of all the possible processions? Let's try to figure this word out and, perhaps, in the process of discovering something new.
What it is?
It is not difficult to guess the dictionary definitions of this word, quite a lot. Let's consider some of them. F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron in their encyclopedic dictionary give this description of the procession:
The procession (from the Latin procedere - move forward) - in the broad sense, every 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. Rat, newer than the dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron, the word "procession" is explained as follows:
Procession (Polish.procesia <lat.prōcēssio forward). Solemn crowded procession. Funeral p.
In the more modern New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language T.F. The Ephraim word "procession" already has two meanings. According to its definition, a procession is:
Solemn, usually crowded procession.
A long row of moving people, cars, etc.
To summarize, a procession is a solemn public procession, secular or religious in nature, as well as a long series of moving objects in general.
What are the processions and how are they characterized?
Based on the definition, the question arises: 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, the word "procession" has a ton of colorful definitions. For example, the procession can be solemn, magnificent, flowery, bright, motley, and can be mournful, mourning, gloomy, sad. It can be slow, impressive, majestic, it can be triumphant, even pathos. And the procession can be endless. Or endless. May be noisy, or may be silent. Maybe she is unusual and strange.
Interesting Facts
The longest coronation procession in history spanned nearly ten kilometers. Such a record was set in 1937 by the British king George VI and his wife Elizabeth. Freshly baked monarchs on the way from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace waved a jubilant enthusiastic crowd during the ceremony, according to researchers, eight hundred and fifty-two times!
But the largest funeral in history was the procession of the first non-Congress-elected chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu S.N. Annadurai, which took place in 1969. Fifteen million people gathered for the funeral of the beloved and esteemed minister.