The Mystery of Elche

Many years ago I was entranced to watch a television programme about the Mystery of Elche - that is the performance on the Vigil and Feast of the Assumption in the basilica at Elche in the Alicante province of Valencia of a medieval Mystery Play which re-enacts the events of the Dormition and Assumption of Our Lady.

The origins of the play are shrouded in legend and mystery and it has, in the best liturgical sense, evolved over the centuries. 

There is a brief introduction to it at I Wonder Why.…The Mystery of Elche?

YouTube has a film of part of the play from the 2018 production which can be seen at CORONACIÓN DE LA VIRGEN DE LA ASUNCIÓN MISTERI D'ELX MISTERIO DE ELCHE AGOSTO 2018

Wikipedia has an article about the city at Elche

and a lengthy article about the history and structure of the drama which supplements the commentary on the television programme I saw. The article can be read at Mystery Play of Elche

I must admit it was a little dispiriting to read the final paragraph about a US academic complaining about “antisemitism” in the play - it is what it is, and is hardly going to inflame a pogrom or go looking for Conversos: only those obsessively looking for antisemitism are going to be sensitised by it.

The Mystery of Elche is a remarkable and precious survival, indeed is a living tradition, of what was once part of the Catholic culture of Europe and Christendom. It is clearly now protected as part of the cultural heritage and tradition of its region and nation.