The mystery plays in Southern Italy

The Church of Rome celebrated the Passion of Christ with an air of drama and theatre from the early Easter liturgies and the oldest forms of devotion. Not surprisingly, the name by which most of the religious processions that take place during Holy Week in Southern Italy are still called (the famous procession of the Misteri, Mysteries), is the same name used in the past to denote the medieval mystery plays (staged actions on a religious theme performed on the sidelines of the Mass, in correspondence with the principal ecclesiastical solemnities). In Molise, even today, the “machines” that parade during the Corpus Christi of Campobasso are called mysteries. It is interesting to note that even the processional Giants marches began in Europe as part of the feast of the Blessed Sacrament of Christ. They are huge papier-mâché and wood puppets, which in Sicily are also found in the form of huge statues depicting the Apostles. The latter perform on Easter Sunday, when, in different locations, the announcement of the Resurrection of Christ is staged. The word Misteri, therefore, used originally to denote the sacred plays, then became a synonym for the extra-liturgical Easter rites recalling the Passion of Christ. The term Misteri, in fact, is associated with both processions with living people (formerly known as Casazze in Sicily),  those which include a parade of symbols (chalice, cock, nails, stairs, shroud, scourges, thorns, Veronica’s veil, the Holy Cross, etc.) and groups of statues depicting scenes from the Passion (known in Sicily as vare, in Spain as pasos or tronos, in Abruzzo as talami). In many cases, the current processions of the Misteri (which are mainly held Thursday and Friday, but sometimes even on the first days of the week) combine these three types of ceremonials (in Sardinia, for example, in the province of Sassari, groups of statues and objects of the Passion march together on Monday and Holy Tuesday).

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