"Millie," costumed character mascot of the Brampton Arts Council

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck^[1] – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. The Brampton Arts Council is a non-profit charitable organization which was formed to promote and develop the arts in the city Luck (also called fortunity) is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's control. A school (from Greek σχολεῖον - scholeion) is an Institution designed to allow and encourage Students (or "pupils" Professional sports, as opposed to amateur Sports are those in which athletes receive payment for their performance A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a Mascots are also used as fictional spokespeople for consumer products, such as the rabbit used in advertising and marketing for the General Mills brand of breakfast cereal, Trix. Trix is a brand of Breakfast cereal made by General Mills for the North American market Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand In popular usage "marketing" is the promotion of products especially Advertising and Branding However in professional usage the term has a wider meaning of General Mills ( is a Fortune 500 Corporation, mainly concerned with Food products which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota A breakfast cereal (often simply called cereal is a packaged food product made from Cereal intended to be consumed as part of a Breakfast.

In the world of sports, team mascots are often confused with team nicknames^[2]. A nickname is a Name of an entity or thing that is not its Proper name. While the two can be interchangeable, they are not always the same. For example, the athletic teams of the University of Tennessee are nicknamed the Volunteers, while their mascot is a dog named Smokey. The University of Tennessee (also known as UT) sometimes called the University of Tennessee Knoxville ( UT Knoxville, or UTK) is the flagship The Tennessee Volunteers, are the names of the college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville Tennessee. Smokey is the Mascot of the University of Tennessee sports teams Team mascots may take the form of a logo, person, live animal, inanimate object or a costumed character, and often appear at team matches and other related events. The term costumed character sometimes refers to a costume that covers the performer's face Since the mid-20th century, costumed characters have provided teams with an opportunity to choose a fantasy creature as their mascot, as is the case with the Philadelphia Phillies' mascot, the Phillie Phanatic. The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team

Costumed mascots are commonplace, and are regularly used as goodwill ambassadors in the community for their team, company, or organization.

Etymology

"Clutch the Bear," costumed mascot for the NBA's Houston Rockets, with fans. The Houston Rockets are an American professional Basketball team based in Houston Texas.

The word mascot has been traced back to a dialectic use in Provence and Gascony, where it was used to describe anything which brought luck to a household^[3]. Provence ( Provençal Occitan: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm is a region of southeastern France Gascony (Gascogne gaskɔɲ Gascon Occitan: Gasconha, pronounced) is an area of southwest France that constituted a province of France The suggestion that the word is derived from masqu (meaning masked or concealed), the Provincial French for a child born with a caul, in allusion to the lucky destiny of such children, is improbable. A caul ( Latin: Caput galeatum, literally "head helmet" is a thin filmy membrane, the Amniotic sac, that covers or partly covers

The word was first popularized in 1880, when French composer Edmond Audran wrote a popular comic operetta titled La Mascotte. Edmond Audran ( 11 April 1842 - 17 August 1901) was a French Composer best known for several internationally successful Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter La mascotte ("The Mascot" is an Operetta by Edmond Audran. However, it had been in use in France long before this, as French slang among gamblers, derived from the Occitan word masco, meaning witch (perhaps from Portuguese mascotto, meaning witchcraft), and also mascoto, meaning spell. Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language. Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Witchcraft, in various historical anthropological religious and mythological contexts is the use of certain kinds of Supernatural or magical powers Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and

Audran's operetta was so popular that it was translated into English as The Mascot, introducing into the English language a word for any animal, person, or object that brings good luck. The word with this definition was then incorporated into many other languages, although often in the French form mascotte.

Choices and identities

A tired costumed character taking a break. It is traditional to avoid showing the unmasked faces of performers.

Often the choice of mascot reflects a desired quality; a common example of this is the "fighting spirit," in which a competitive nature is personified by warriors or predatory animals. Personification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person Mascots may also symbolize a local or regional trait, such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers' mascot, Herbie Husker: a stylized version of a farmer, owing to the agricultural traditions of the area in which the university is located. The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) is the name given to several sports teams of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Herbie Husker is the oldest current Mascot of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 's sports teams

In the United States, controversy^[4] surrounds some mascot choices, especially those using human likenesses. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The use of Native American mascots in sports has become a contentious issue in the United States and Canada. Mascots based on Native American tribes are particularly contentious, as many argue that they constitute offensive exploitations of an oppressed culture^[5]. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States The following is a list of sports team names and mascots derived from Indigenous peoples, including generically used terms those named after specific peoples and words

Some sports teams have "unofficial" mascots: individual supporters or fans that have become identified with the team. The New York Yankees, for example, have such an individual in fan Freddy Sez. The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City, New York. Freddy Schuman (born May 23, 1925) better known as Freddy Sez or Freddy "Sez", is a New Yorker and supporter of the Former Toronto Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdie was a costumed character created by a Blue Jays fan, ultimately hired by the team to perform at their home games. The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is a list of current and former Major League Baseball Mascots sorted alphabetically

Military mascots

The goat mascot and Goat Major of the Royal Regiment of Wales. The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot was an Infantry Regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division.

Main article: Military mascot

Mascots are also popular in military units. Military mascot refers to a pet animal maintained by a Military unit for Ceremonial purposes or as an Emblem of that unit A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking For example, the United States Marine Corps uses the bald eagle as a formal emblem; the bulldog is also popularly associated with the U. The Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a Bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and An emblem is a pictorial Image, abstract or representational that epitomizes a Concept — e The Bulldog, colloquially known as the British Bulldog or English Bulldog, is a medium-size breed of Dog that originated in England S. Marines.

Many regiments of the British Army have a live animal mascot which may appear on parades, including a ram for the 95th Derbyshire Regiment, an Irish Wolfhound for the Irish Guards, a Shetland pony for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and a goat for the Royal Regiment of Wales. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people usually organized along a street often in Costume, and often accompanied by Fire History The area that is now Derbyshire was first visited probably briefly by humans 200000 years ago during the Aveley Interglacial as evidenced by a Middle The Irish Guards ( Irish: Garda na hÉireann) (IG part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards Regiment of the British The Shetland pony is a breed of Pony originating in the Shetland Isles. Argyll, Archaically Argyle ( Earra-Ghàidheal in modern Gaelic) is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part Sutherland (In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh (NW Asainte (Assynt and Cataibh (East The Scottish Highlands ( Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd, Scots: Hielans) include the rugged and Mountainous The domestic goat ( Capra aegagrus hircus) is a subspecies of goat Domesticated from the Wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot was an Infantry Regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. Other British military mascots include a pair of drummer horses, an antelope, and a ferret. The Gypsy Vanner is a brand name given to the Gypsy Cob breed of Horse in the U Antelope are Ruminant hoofed Mammals of the family Bovidae in the order of Even-toed ungulates. The ferret is a domestic Mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo.

The Norwegian Royal Guard adopted a King Penguin named Nils Olav as its mascot on the occasion of a visit to Edinburgh by its regimental band. A Royal Guard describes any group of military Bodyguard, soldiers or retainers responsible for the protection of a royal person such as a King or Queen The King Penguin ( Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of Penguin at about 90 cm (3 ft tall and weighing 11 to 16 kg (24 to The (very large) penguin remains resident at Edinburgh Zoo and has been formally promoted by one rank on the occasion of each subsequent visit to Britain by the band or other detachments of the Guard. Edinburgh Zoo, formally the Scottish National Zoological Park, is a non-profit Zoological park located in Edinburgh, the capital city of Regimental Sergeant Major Olav was awarded the Norwegian Army's Long Service and Good Conduct medal at a ceremony in 2005.

See also

• Car mascot
• Fursuit
• List of Australian Mascots
• List of colleges by mascot
• List of mascots
• List of national animals
• List of National Hockey League mascots
• List of Major League Baseball mascots
• List of National Football League mascots
• List of sports team names and mascots derived from indigenous peoples
• List of U.S. college mascots
• List of video game mascots
• Mascot Hall of Fame
• Mascots of Brazilian football sides
• National emblem
• National personification
• Native American mascot controversy
• Olympic mascot
• Totem

References

External links

• General mascot information
• List of more than 500 sports mascots
• List of Olympic mascots
• Overview of mascot construction methods
• List of Free and Open Source software mascots