Pageant

[paj-uh nt] /ˈpædʒ ənt/

noun
1.
an elaborate public spectacle illustrative of the history of a place, institution, or the like, often given in dramatic form or as a procession of colorful floats.
2.
a costumed procession, masque, allegorical tableau, or the like forming part of public or social festivities.
3.
a show or exhibition, especially one consisting of a succession of participants or events:
a beauty pageant.
4.
something comparable to a procession in colorful variety, splendor, or grandeur:
the pageant of Renaissance history.
5.
a pretentious display or show that conceals a lack of real importance or meaning.
6.
(in medieval times) a platform or stage, usually moving on wheels, on which scenes from mystery plays were presented.
7.
display or .
8.
Obsolete. a stage bearing any kind of spectacle.
/ˈpædʒənt/
noun
1.
an elaborate colourful parade or display portraying scenes from history, esp one involving rich costume
2.
any magnificent or showy display, procession, etc
n.

late 14c., “play in a cycle of mystery plays,” from Medieval Latin pagina, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Latin pagina “page of a book” (see page (n.1)) on notion of “manuscript” of a play.

But an early sense in Middle English also was “stage or scene of a play” (late 14c.) and Klein says a sense of Latin pagina was “movable scaffold” (probably from the etymological sense of “stake”). With excrescent -t as in ancient (adj.). Generalized sense of “showy parade, spectacle” is first attested 1805, though this notion is found in pageantry (1650s).