Editing Beauty pageant (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Jane Georgina, Lady Seymour, Eglinton Tournament..jpg|thumb|[[Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset]] was crowned the 'Queen of Beauty' at the Eglinton Tournament of 1839.]]
[[File:Beauty show, 1922, (8-5-22) LOC npcc.06819 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Woman receiving an award for winning a beauty pageant, 1922]]
[[File:Celebración del 7 Festival de Tradiciones Canarias en Cuba (2010), princesa dácil.jpg|thumb|upright|Celebration of the "''[[Dácil|Princess Dácil]]''" contest at the Seventh Festival of Canarian Traditions in Cuba. In the center of the image, Mary Ann Álvarez Robbio, who was the winner of the contest in 2010.]]
[[File:Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant.ogv|thumb|Lone Star State selects beauties for 100 Year Pageant.<ref name="Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant">{{cite web|title=Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant|url=http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=Lone_Star_State_Selects_Beauties_for_100_Year_Pageant&gsearch=beauties|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314202157/http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=Lone_Star_State_Selects_Beauties_for_100_Year_Pageant&gsearch=beauties|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 March 2012|publisher=Texas Archive of the Moving Image|access-date=21 July 2011|author=Universal Newsreel|year=1935}}</ref>]]

European festivals dating back to the [[Middle Ages]] provide the most direct lineage for beauty pageants. For example, English [[May Day]] celebrations always had the selection of a [[May Queen]]. In the United States, the May Day tradition of selecting a woman to serve as a symbol of beauty and community ideals continued, as young, beautiful women participated in public celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/peopleevents/e_origins.html|title=Miss America: People & Events: Origins of the Beauty Pageant|publisher=Pbs.org |access-date= 21 May 2014}}</ref>

A beauty pageant was held during the [[Eglinton Tournament]] of 1839, organized by [[Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton]], as part of a re-enactment of a medieval joust that was held in Scotland. The pageant was won by [[Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset]], the wife of [[Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset]], and sister of [[Caroline Norton]], and she was proclaimed as the "Queen of Beauty".<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vfonRGFZ3k|title=Beauty Pageants: Then vs Now|publisher=80Twelve|date=15 April 2016|via=YouTube}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2020}} Beauty contests became more popular in the 1880s. In 1888, the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18-year-old [[Creole peoples|Creole]] contestant at a pageant in [[Spa, Belgium]]. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible to enter and a final selection of 21 was judged by a formal panel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beauty Pageants History: The Beginning and Beyond|url=http://florida-beauty-pageants.com/|access-date=7 June 2013|archive-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307142546/http://florida-beauty-pageants.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Such events were not regarded as respectable. In 1880, [[Rehoboth Beach, Delaware]] held the first recorded beauty pageant in the United States, searching for "the most beautiful unmarried woman in our nation" and awarding her the title of [[Miss United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 1988 |title=The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/222947047/ |access-date=2023-06-20 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grout |first=Holly |date=Spring 2013 |title=Between Venus and Mercury: The 1920s Beauty Contest in France and America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24517582.pdf |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=47–68 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2013.310103 |jstor=24517582 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Beauty Pageant Origins and Culture {{!}} American Experience |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/missamerica-beauty-pageant-origins-and-culture/ |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=www.pbs.org [[PBS]] |language=en}}</ref>