What is Clown ??

Good question.

Most people are familiar with the clown's role as a performer and entertainer, one focused on fun and funny. If you try to define the exterior form that the clown takes on, one quickly becomes engulfed in a myriad of permutations of possible themes. From Commedia Del Arte and medieval jesters, to circus clowns, clowns of the silent movies, modern clowns...going backwards and forwards through the annals of history, one discovers a rich lineage of clowning traditions.

To the right over there are a series of interviews with a number of well known performers that investigate this question of 'What is clown?'

The sacred clown is another aspect of clown most common to indiginous and first nations of the planet, where clown in an integral element of community life.

"Sacred clowns, although they are often portrayed as merely providing comic relief in otherwise deadly serious ceremonies, are in reality close to the heart of American Indian religion. As an Apache medicine man explained:
People think that the clown is just nothing, that he is just for fun. That is not so."
From Barbara Tedlock's essay in Page 105.Teachings from the American Earth. Edited by Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock. Liveright paperback 1992