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The Veiled Prophet Ball (commonly referred to as the VP Ball) is a dance held each December in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, by a secret society named the "Veiled Prophet Organization" (often referred to as "the VP"), first founded by prominent St. Louisans in 1878. The founders' intent was to create an annual local celebration similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, eventually to include pageantry and costuming as well as a parade with floats. Each year, one member of the Veiled Prophet Organization is chosen to serve as the "Veiled Prophet of Khorassan," to preside over the VP Ball. Five of the debutantes who attend the ball (all attend by invitation only) are chosen by secret process to make up the "Veiled Prophet's Court of Honor." One is chosen to be crowned the "Queen of Love and Beauty" by the Veiled Prophet. Events also included the Veiled Prophet Fair (or "VP Fair"). In the face of increasing criticism of using civic resources to support a socially exclusive organization, this was renamed as Fair St. Louis in 1992 and broadened in appeal. The Fair was moved from the riverfront to Forest Park in 2014 and 2015 due to construction in the area around the Gateway Memorial Arch and reworking of roadways and the park. ==Origins== The event had its roots in the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair, an annual harvest festival which had been held in St. Louis since 1856. It attracted agricultural crops, crafts, demonstrations and attendees from throughout the region. In the economic difficulties after the American Civil War in the 1870s, such events declined. City boosters devised the Veiled Prophet Fair in an attempt to reclaim from the rapidly growing city of Chicago, pre-eminence for St. Louis as a manufacturing center and agricultural shipping point. On March 20, 1878, Charles Slayback, a grain broker and former Confederate cavalryman (who had spent several years in New Orleans after the Civil War and become acquainted with its Mardi Gras traditions) called a meeting of local business leaders at the Lindell Hotel. Together with his brother Alonzo, Slayback created a mythology for a secret elite society, whose public demonstrations would coincide with the annual fair. From Irish poet Thomas Moore, the Slaybacks borrowed the name of the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan; they also incorporated features from the Mystick Krewe of Comus of New Orleans. In their version, the Prophet was a world traveler who had made St. Louis his home base. The first parade, attracting over 50,000 spectators, and grand ball were staged that year on October 8, 1878. The fair was also intended to re-assert the social hierarchy which had been challenged by the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Historian Thomas M. Spencer said this was the first and most successful strike of its type, and unusual for involving large numbers of African American workmen as well as ethnic whites.〔Spencer (2000), p. 18〕 Though the fair has regularly been characterized as "a way of healing the wounds of a bitter labor-management fight," Spencer suggests "the first Veiled Prophet parade was more a show of force than a gesture of healing." He commented on the early imagery of the Veiled Prophet (see image above), dressed in a hood and robe similar to members of the Ku Klux Klan and being armed with pistol and rifle, thus referring to issues of the white supremacist South. At the time, the ''Missouri Republican'' commented, "It will be readily observed from the accoutrements of the Prophet that the procession is not likely to be stopped by street cars or anything else."(October 6, 1878) Historian Spencer interpreted the reference of the ''Republican'' to "streetcars" as related to the 1877 labor strike. Lucy Ferriss wrote about the VP events in her memoir, characterizing St. Louis as "the northwest outpost of the Confederacy."〔Lucy Ferriss, ''Unveiling the Prophet''〕 The Prophet was selected secretly from among male members, who were made up of St. Louis' business and civic elite. The first prophet was Police Commissioner John G. Priest (who had been energetic in suppressing the 1877 strikers' attempt to prevent strikebreakers from taking their jobs). Although the identity of a given year's Grand Oracle, or Veiled Prophet, was officially a secret, early holders of the office were reported to include Col. Alonzo W. Slayback, Capt. Frank Gaiennie, John A. Scudder, Henry C. Haarstick, George Bain, Robert P. Tansey, George H. Morgan, Col. J. C. Normile, Wallace Delafield, John B. Maude, Dr. D. P. Rowland, Charles E. Slayback, Leigh I. Knapp, David B. Gould, Henry Paschell, H. I. Kent, Dr. E. Pretorious, Win. H. Thompson, and Win. A. Hargadine. In the 21st century, the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' still speculates each year on the identity of the Veiled Prophet. The Queen of Love and Beauty, and later maids of honor, were to be selected by the Veiled Prophet from among the debutantes who had received invitations to the ball. (The list of invitees was determined by a process never made public. The supply of tickets was limited to members of the VP organization, which had a secret constitution, and the assignment of these non-transferrable tickets required the organization's approval.) The Veiled Prophet would dance the "Royal Quadrille" with the Queen, and then award her some keepsake of the occasion. Over the years, the Queens and their courts received pearl necklaces or silver tiaras, which became family heirlooms (as did the elaborate invitations themselves). The 1928 Veiled Prophet Ball illustrates how seriously the event was regarded as an instrument of social control. The 50th anniversary celebration records show "no queen." Mary Ambrose Smith, who was selected as Queen, was found to have secretly married Dr. Thomas Birdsall days earlier, violating the rule that the Queen of Love and Beauty must be a "maiden." In a 1979 interview with the ''St. Louis Times'', Smith recalled how the Veiled Prophet "gave her travelling money and told her to 'begone, don't register at any large hotels, and don't use your real name.' ... Smith was 'made to feel she disgraced her family. None of her friends stuck by her (she was told she could not visit their houses), she was never invited to another VP ball, her picture was removed from the collection of queens' portraits at the Missouri Historical Society, and her name was deleted from the Social Register.'" Due to the demands of world wars, the Ball was suspended for the years 1917-1918 and from 1942 through 1945. When the ball was resumed after World War II, critics began to object to using Kiel Auditorium, a civic facility, for such a socially exclusive event. In the 1950s, the Chase Park Plaza Hotel constructed the opulent Khorassan Ballroom specifically to host the annual debutante ball, and the event was moved there. Since the turn of the 21st century, the Ball has been held at the Downtown St. Louis Hyatt at the Arch. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Veiled Prophet Ball」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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