A big ship decorated with variegated flags and numerous pictures of fish, animals and birds and their mummies is hauled through the city streets and a group of gaily-painted maskers follows the ship. In 1722 Peter the Great arranged an unparalleled masquerade in Moscow. Many ships of different type and size and dozens of sledges driven by various animals were hauled through the city streets forming a long row. A Harlequin on the big sledges drawn by six horses going in single file and decorated with jingles was riding in the head of the Train. Prince the Father clad in a red velvet robe frilled with the ermine fir was driving past him with Bacchus sitting on a barrel at his feet. Prince the Father's sledges were followed by his retinue. The fool's sledges drawn by four pigs reared the procession. Neptune headed the fleet of the ship. He had a trident in his hand and was riding in a chariot drawn by two sirens. Prince Romodanovsky, the so-called Caesar Prince occupied his place in a big boat drawn by two live bears. At the end of the fleet there was the biggest ship with 88 cannons. This ship was the replica of Friedemarker's ship that was launched in March 1721 in St. Petersburg. The ship was fully armed and had three masts. Six horses hauled the ship. Peter the Great clad in a naval captain uniform was standing on the foredeck accompanied by the naval generals and officers and gave orders as if the ship was at sea. The gilded gondola of the Empress clad as a Dutch peasant accompanied by her retinue - all of them clad in Arabian clothes -followed the ship. The real participants of the Masquerade - also known as the "restless community" - followed the entire procession. They were sitting in the long and wide sledges shaped as a dragon's head and wore costumes of cranes, wolves, foxes and bears portraying the main characters of the Aesopian fables. This splendid and picturesque procession through Tverskiye Gate passed into the Kremlin culminating in the show of fireworks and the great feast. After Peter the Great's demise no such masquerades were arranged for some years until Empress Elisabeth, who loved to dress up as the man suit became her, took the throne.
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