... Then a child is introduced, who
goes on his knees before Herod, with his hands on his breast, asking
pity. He gives clever answers to various questions and foretells the
Christ's future career, at which Herod stabs him. The whole troupe now
strikes up a tune of reproach to Herod, who falls on his knees in deep
repentance." The play is sometimes performed by puppets instead of living
actors.{56}
Christmas plays performed by puppets are found in other countries too. In
Poland "during the week between Christmas and New Year is shown the
_Jaselki_ or manger, a travelling series of scenes from the life of
Christ or even of modern peasants, a small travelling puppet-theatre,
gorgeous with tinsel and candles, and something like our 'Punch and Judy'
show. The market-place of Cracow, especially at night, is a very pretty
spectacle, its sidewalks all lined with these glittering Jaselki."{57}
In Madrid |154| at the Epiphany a puppet-play was common, in which the
events of the Nativity and the Infancy were mimed by wooden figures,{58}
and in Provence, in the mid-nineteenth century, the Christmas scenes were
represented in the same way.{59}
Last may be mentioned a curious Mexican mixture of religion and
amusement, a sort of drama called the "Posadas," described by Madame
Calderon de la Barca in her "Life in Mexico" (1843).
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