THE GROWTH OF THE PASSION-PLAY 293 



Church responses and hymns which occur. On the 

 other hand it is drama, if we note that the actors are 

 clothed to suit their characters, that there are stage- 

 accessories, the star, the gifts, and the cortina, 1 and 

 that gesture and motion are indicated. Indeed, the 

 Church becomes a stage, and the altars, nave, aisle, and 

 choir are all used in a manner very suggestive for the 

 later passion-play arrangements. Lastly, some evidence 

 of the antiquity of the ritual may be drawn from the 

 fact that the divine personages are still only represented 

 by symbols, the cross and the image, as in the early 

 Easter scenic rituals. I will now turn to what is 

 known of these rituals, treating them, however, with 

 less detail. 



(ii.) The Adoratio Crucis. The Easter ritual centres 

 round the so-called ' sepulchre.' In most churches 

 there was a permanent sepulchre placed alongside the 

 altar, or in its immediate neighbourhood, and especially 

 designed for the Easter ceremony. 2 In other cases, the 

 sepulchre would be temporarily erected for the rite. Thus 

 occasionally it would consist of a hollow pile of books 

 upon the altar, wherein the sacrament could be placed ; 

 at other times, as in the miniature reproduced by 

 Mone, 3 or, as in the case of Tyll Ulenspiegel's prank, 4 

 it would be capable of containing one or more persons 

 who acted as angels. 



The sepulchre having been prepared after nones on 



1 It is not clear whether the cortiiia is a hollow vessel representing the cradle, 

 or the curtain hanging beside the altar. 



2 As to the position and nature of the sepulchre see Parker, Glossary of 

 Architecture, 5th ed. vol. i. p. 420. The sextons in English village churches will 

 still frequently point out the sepulchre as ' some of the old choir-stalls. ' 



3 B, vol. i. p. 8. 4 Die dreizehent Historic of the Volkbvdi, see below. 



