EN
Sokol, Deutsche Turnerschaft, Deutscher Turnerbund, Turnkreis Deutsch-Österreich, Deutscher Turnerbund 1919, and Deutscher Turnverband – the names of the six nationalist-leaning gymnastic organisations that existed in Central Europe between the 1860s and the 1930s and that also took in clubs in the territory of what is now the Czech Republic. Different types of festivities were organised at all of the organisations specified, at a club, district, county (sometimes regional), and federation-wide level, one stable part of which was the parade. The paper submitted, which draws on the input of ethnology, the history of ideas, and the history of sport, aims to capture, using federation press, souvenir publications, and various handbooks, how the make-up of the participants in nationalist gymnastic federation parades changed over time, the changes to what those involved in the parades wore, what objects they carried with them, how they marched, and how they behaved. Given that each detail of the ceremonial parades concealed therein a certain symbolic significance, the parades of the federations under consideration can be seen as mirrors reflecting the ideas that were officially held and promoted in those federations. The study therefore also elaborates an effort to recognise which thoughts were reflected in the parades as a result of the presence of certain groups and their attire, objects, movement, and behaviour.