The York Corpus Christi Pageants
Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘The York Corpus Christi Pageants’
In The Copybook
Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘The York Corpus Christi Pageants’
In The Copybook
The Tilers and Thatchers of fourteenth-century York tell how Joseph and Mary fared after they were turned away by the innkeepers of Bethlehem.
From at least the 1370s, a series of pageants was put on in the city of York for Corpus Christi, a summertime Church festival dedicated to the Eucharist. Dramatising the life of Jesus Christ, the plays were performed by members of the Guilds of skilled trades or ‘mysteries’ (hence ‘mystery plays’). The Nativity fell to the Tilers and Thatchers, who began with Joseph and Mary trying to settle into a tumbledown Bethlehem stable.
While Joseph is away trying to find light for the darksome stable, Mary brings into the world the Light of everlasting Day.
The Tilers and Thatchers of fourteenth-century York continue their Nativity play, with Mary alone in the ramshackle Bethlehem stable — Joseph her betrothed guardian has gone out into the cold night air to find some light. She is praising God, and awaiting the birth of the miraculous child foretold to her by the archangel Gabriel nine months ago in Nazareth.
The chill of the night is relieved by the warmth of the beasts in their stalls, prompting Mary and Joseph to reflect on the promises of Scripture.
The Tilers and Thatchers of fourteenth-century York bring their Nativity play to a close, back in the Bethlehem stable where Mary and her guardian Joseph have been forced to find shelter. Mary has given birth to a son and laid him in a manger, while her guardian Joseph was out looking for candles. Now he has returned, to find that his candles are superfluous for another Light is shining in the darkness.