The article is an attempt to analyze the relationship between a ritual event - Ride of the Kings - and the festival organized around it. Ride of the Kings is considered a ritual though its messages and symbols are not fully underwood by the community. While the King’s Ride ritual provides a valuable reason for the existence of the festival, the festival - in turn - contributes to the promotion and transformation of the ritual event. There are discussed three modalities of transforming the ritual in theatrical performance: 1. A metaphorical interpretation of the „riders‘ procession“ by the children, on stage; 2. The transformation in spectacle of the most important ritual moment: the dressing of the King in woman‘s clothes. 3. The creation of a concluding fragment performed on stage and presented as an integral part of the traditional procession. The coexistence and interaction between the cultural traditions of the Ride of the Kings ritual, and the arbitrarily added festival have ambivalent consequences. On one hand, the King’s Ride tradition functions to support and legitimate the existence of the touristic festival. On the other hand, because of growing number of outsiders asking for more spectacle, the Ride of the Kings ritual may become progressively a cultural commodity and an integral part of the festival by moving from its traditional physical and social locations on stage or by being transformed into a standardized theatrical performance.
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