Editing Entertainment (section)

=== Court entertainment ===
[[File:Codex Manesse 192v - Albrecht von Rapperswil.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Tournament before an audience and musicians (14th century)]]
[[File:Ralph Hedley The tournament 1898.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ralph Hedley]] ''The Tournament'' (1898) Children adapting a courtly entertainment]]
Imperial and royal courts have provided training grounds and support for professional entertainers, with different cultures using palaces, castles and forts in different ways. In the [[Maya civilization|Maya city states]], for example, "spectacles often took place in large plazas in front of palaces; the crowds gathered either there or in designated places from which they could watch at a distance."<ref>{{cite book|title=Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History|year=2008|publisher=University of California Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-520-25443-5|editor=Walthall, Anne|ref=CITEREFWalthall2008}} pp.&nbsp;4–5.</ref> Court entertainments also crossed cultures. For example, the [[Durbar (court)|durbar]] was introduced to India by the [[Mughal emperors|Mughals]], and passed onto the [[British Empire]], which then followed Indian tradition: "institutions, titles, customs, ceremonies by which a [[Maharaja]] or [[Nawab]] were installed&nbsp;... the exchange of official presents&nbsp;... the order of precedence", for example, were "all inherited from&nbsp;... the Emperors of Delhi".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Charles|author-link = Charles Allen (writer)|last2 = Dwivedi|first2=Sharada|author-link2 = Sharada Dwivedi|title=Lives of the Indian Princes|year=1984|publisher=Century Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-0-7126-0910-4|page=210}}</ref> In Korea, the "court entertainment dance" was "originally performed in the palace for entertainment at court banquets."<ref>{{cite book|last=Van Zile|first=Judy|title=Perspectives on Korean Dance|year=2001|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|location=Middletown, CN|isbn=978-0-8195-6494-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/perspectivesonko0000vanz}} p. 36.</ref>

Court entertainment often moved from being associated with the court to more general use among [[commoner]]s. This was the case with "masked dance-dramas" in Korea, which "originated in conjunction with village [[Shamanism|shaman]] rituals and eventually became largely an entertainment form for commoners".{{sfnp|Van Zile|2001|p=9}} [[Nautch]] dancers in the Mughal Empire performed in Indian courts and palaces. Another evolution, similar to that from courtly entertainment to common practice, was the transition from religious ritual to secular entertainment, such as happened during the [[Goryeo]] dynasty with the Narye festival. Originally "solely religious or ritualistic, a secular component was added at the conclusion".{{sfnp|Van Zile|2001|p=69}} Former courtly entertainments, such as [[jousting]], often also survived in children's games.

In some courts, such as those during the [[Byzantine Empire]], the genders were segregated among the upper classes, so that "at least before the period of the [[Komnenos|Komnenoi]]" (1081–1185) men were separated from women at ceremonies where there was entertainment such as receptions and banquets.<ref name=Garland>{{cite book|editor-last=Garland|editor-first=Lynda|editor-link=Lynda Garland |title=Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience 800–1200|year=2006|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Aldershot, Hampshire|isbn=978-0-7546-5737-8|pages=177–178}}</ref>

Court ceremonies, palace banquets and the spectacles associated with them, have been used not only to entertain but also to demonstrate wealth and power. Such events reinforce the relationship between ruler and ruled; between those with power and those without, serving to "dramatise the differences between ordinary families and that of the ruler".{{sfnp|Walthall|2008}} This is the case as much as for traditional courts as it is for contemporary ceremonials, such as the [[Hong Kong handover ceremony]] in 1997, at which an array of entertainments (including a banquet, a parade, fireworks, a festival performance and an art spectacle) were put to the service of highlighting a change in political power. Court entertainments were typically performed for royalty and courtiers as well as "for the pleasure of local and visiting dignitaries".{{sfnp|Van Zile|2001|p=6}} Royal courts, such as the Korean one, also supported traditional dances.{{sfnp|Van Zile|2001|p=6}} In Sudan, musical instruments such as the so-called "slit" or "talking" drums, once "part of the court orchestra of a powerful chief", had multiple purposes: they were used to make music; "speak" at ceremonies; mark community events; send long-distance messages; and call men to hunt or war.<ref>{{cite web|last=McGregor|first=Neil|title=Episode 94: Sudanese Slit Drum (Transcript)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode94/|work=History of the World in 100 Objects|publisher=BBC Radio 4/British Museum|access-date=6 February 2013|archive-date=15 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615000158/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode94/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=McGregor|first=Neil|title=A History of the World in 100 objects|year=2010|publisher=Allen Lane|location=London|isbn=978-1-84614-413-4|pages=613–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/FMgugdskR7eaWj_ST2fAeQ| title = British Museum catalogue image of Sudanese slit drum| access-date = 20 December 2019| archive-date = 27 December 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191227151825/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/FMgugdskR7eaWj_ST2fAeQ| url-status = live}}</ref>

Courtly entertainments also demonstrate the complex relationship between entertainer and spectator: individuals may be either an entertainer or part of the audience, or they may swap roles even during the course of one entertainment. In the court at the [[Palace of Versailles]], "thousands of courtiers, including men and women who inhabited its apartments, acted as both performers and spectators in daily rituals that reinforced the status hierarchy".{{sfnp|Walthall|2008}}

Like court entertainment, royal occasions such as coronations and weddings provided opportunities to entertain both the [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]] and the people. For example, the splendid 1595 [[Accession Day]] celebrations of [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] offered [[tournament]]s and jousting and other events performed "not only before the assembled court, in all their finery, but also before thousands of Londoners eager for a good day's entertainment. Entry for the day's events at the [[Tiltyard]] in [[Palace of Whitehall|Whitehall]] was set at [[History of the English penny (1485–1603)#Elizabeth I|12d]]".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-59436-3|author=Holbrook, Peter|editor=Bevington, David|pages=42–43}}</ref>