pageant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An elaborate public dramatic presentation that usually depicts a historical or traditional event.
• noun A spectacular procession or celebration, especially one involving costumed performers or contestants.
• noun A beauty contest.
• noun A usually pompous or ostentatious display or sequence.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To exhibit in show; flaunt.
• noun A scaffold, in general movable (moving on four wheels, as a car or float), on which shows, spectacles, and plays were represented in the middle ages; a stage or platform; a triumphal car, chariot, arch, statue, float, or other object-forming part of or carried in public shows and processions.
• noun The play performed upon such a scaffold or platform; a spectacle; a show; an entertainment; a theatrieal exhibition; hence, a procession or parade with stately or splendid accompaniments; a showy display.
• noun Hangings of tapestry and the like decorated with scenes, incidents, etc.
• Brilliant and showy; ostentatious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle.
• noun An elaborate exhibition devised for the entertainmeut of a distinguished personage, or of the public; a show, spectacle, or display.
• transitive verb rare To exhibit in show; to represent; to mimic.
• adjective Of the nature of a pageant; spectacular.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An elaborate public display, especially a parade in historical or traditional costume.
• noun A spectacular ceremony.
• noun A beauty pageant.
• verb To exhibit in show; to represent; to mimic.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an elaborate representation of scenes from history etc; usually involves a parade with rich costumes
• noun a rich and spectacular ceremony