Mass games

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Form of performing arts or gymnastics

title: "Mass games" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["propaganda-in-north-korea", "festivals-in-north-korea", "culture-of-north-korea", "tourist-attractions-in-pyongyang", "sokol", "sport-in-czechoslovakia", "sports-festivals-in-north-korea", "east-asian-traditions"] description: "Form of performing arts or gymnastics" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_games" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Form of performing arts or gymnastics ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Bundesturnfest_Milwaukee_1893.jpg" caption="Federal Gymnastics Festival in Milwaukee, 1893"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/1965-12_1965年全运会团体操_革命赞歌2.jpg" caption="Opening ceremony of the Second [[National Games of China]] at the [[Workers' Stadium]] in Beijing, September 1965"] ::

Mass games, or mass gymnastics, are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess.

North Korea

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/North_Korea_mass_games_1998.jpg" caption="Supreme Leader]] [[Kim Il-sung]]."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/All_hail_Kim_Il-sung.jpg" caption="Mass games festival in North Korea. The performers are honoring the image of the [[Eternal President]], [[Kim Il-sung]]."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/North_korea_mass_games.jpg" caption="[[Arirang Festival]] mass games display in Pyongyang"] ::

Mass games, such as the Arirang Mass Games, are performed annually in North Korea, at the Rungrado May Day Stadium, to celebrate national holidays such as the birthdays of former rulers Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. In the 1990s, they were also held at the Kim Il-sung Stadium and the Pyongyang Gymnasium. North Korean mass games typically feature over 100,000 participants in a 90-minute display of gymnastics, dance, acrobatics, and dramatic performance, accompanied by music and other effects, all wrapped in a highly politicized package.

Per Kim Jong-il:

Mass gymnastics exhibit the North Korean idea of ilsim-dangyeol (single-minded unity) as well as nationalism.

The 2004 British documentary film A State of Mind follows two child gymnasts training for the mass games in Pyongyang.

Outside North Korea

Guyana

Guyana, under Forbes Burnham (1964–1985), held mass games in February 1980, to celebrate the nation's ten-year anniversary.

Europe

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Slet1920.jpg" caption="Sokol]] ''Slet'', Prague, 1920"] ::

Germany

In Germany, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn developed a gymnastics method called Massenturnen. In 1860, in a bid to promote the sport, he initiated the . The festival continues to be held to this day, in the form of an international gymnastics event.

In East Germany, eight mass games, called the GDR Gymnastics and Sports Festival, were held in Leipzig. Participation was voluntary, and the segments combined both Western and Eastern elements, infused with German traditions.

Czechoslovakia/Czechia

Mass games developed in Czechoslovakia as part of the Sokol movement, a gymnastics organization that organizes the event. The word slet means "festival", or "gathering of birds". The first Slet was held in 1882 in Prague to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the organization's founding. Since 1994, Slets have been held every six years, with the most recent one having taken place in June 2024.

Czechoslovakia also organized the Spartakiad, a mass gymnastics event meant to celebrate the country's liberation by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. The event was held regularly between 1955 and 1990.

Yugoslavia

In Yugoslavia, similar activities, also called Slet, were organized, and one of these was the Relay of Youth; participation in the events was voluntary.

Romania

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Propaganda_-Cultul_personalitatii-_C.jpg" caption="Pioneer Day]] on 18 June 1977"] ::

In Romania, the communist government organized compulsory mass games after General Secretary Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife had visited the People's Republic of China and witnessed the event there.

References

References

  1. Kim Jong-il. (1987). "On Further Developing Mass Gymnastics: Talk to Mass Gymnastics Producers April 11, 1987". [[Foreign Languages Publishing House (North Korea).
  2. Young, Benjamin R.. (2020). "Cultural Diplomacy with North Korean Characteristics: Pyongyang's Exportation of the Mass Games to the Third World, 1972–1996". The International History Review.
  3. Burnett, Lisa. (2013). "Let Morning Shine over Pyongyang: The Future-Oriented Nationalism of North Korea's ''Arirang'' Mass Games". Asian Music.
  4. (25 July 2017). "A North Korean state of mind".
  5. (26 January 2015). "'Only a disciplined people can build a nation': North Korean Mass Games and Third Worldism in Guyana, 1980-1992 | the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus".
  6. "History". SOKOL USA CHICAGO GYMNASTICS.
  7. Bednar, Charles and Sivak, Paul: ''The Sokols and Their Endeavor''. 1948.
  8. Morkes, František. (18 December 2005). "Jak vzniklo slovo "spartakiáda"". Czech Radio.
  9. Bojana Ceveljić and Ana Vujanović. (5 December 2012). "Public Sphere by Performance". Katarina Popovic.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

propaganda-in-north-koreafestivals-in-north-koreaculture-of-north-koreatourist-attractions-in-pyongyangsokolsport-in-czechoslovakiasports-festivals-in-north-koreaeast-asian-traditions