The mystery, initially spelled mistère (from the medieval Latin misterium, “ceremony”), is a theatrical genre that appeared in the 15th century. It consisted of a succession of animated scenes and dialogues written for a very wide audience, implementing stories and legends on which the imagination and popular belief had been nourished. The supernatural and realism coexisted there. The Passion of Christ was one of his traditional subjects.
After a very short interlude, theater was reborn in Western Europe around the 10th century when the Easter liturgy began to be embellished in certain churches with dramatic passages, the oldest being the Quem Quaeritis. “Whom do you seek, servants of Christ? » asks an angel to the three Marys who have come to pay their respects in front of the sepulcher where the body of Christ was buried. “Jesus of Nazareth” respond the holy women to whom the angel then announces the resurrection 1,2. The manuscript of the Regularis Concordia written at the end of the 10th century by the Bishop of Winchester provides valuable scenic information on this passage2.

This first Quem quaeritis then inspires the Nativity games, the angel this time addressing the b