Abstract
This study aims to understand the role and modalities of play in a liberal democracy through a case study of the Velvet Carnival - a recently developed (2012) procession of civic groups and NGOs commemorating the fall of the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia on 17 November 1989. It relates the event to three other performative forms of play (ritual, performance art, political happenings), arguing that the Velvet Carnival represents a nascent, non-religious "civic ritual", the main goal of which is to performatively reflect on the contingent character of the social contract.