Abstract

A tradition of “crèche” performances, representations of the Christian Nativity, existed in many countries of Central and Eastern Europe (e.g., Austria, Bohemia, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Russia) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This tradition primarily came from folk plays presented at Christmastime, but the oldest traditions were derived from pastorals with a Christmas theme, which appeared in the European Baroque theatre around 1555 when the first modern-era plays performed in Latin, called pastorales sacrae, were staged in Italy (Slivka 1992: 90). Alongside this tradition, which was developed by Jesuits, came popular presentations of the Nativity story performed in the language of the local populace, the “folk.” These Nativity scenes, presented as folk plays, existed in both puppet and human form or as a combination of the two.