问题：

[名词解释题,10分] Mystery play：

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答案：

The Mystery plays of the Middle Ages were based on the bible and were particularly concerned with the stories of man’s creation, Fall and Redemption. They antedate Miracle Plays.Mystery Plays developed out of the Liturgy of the church and in particular out of the Quem Quaeritis trope of Easter Day. The earlier dramatizations were presented on the greater festivals of the church: Christmas, Easter,, Pentecost and Corpus Christi. At first they were in Latin and performed by the clergy in the church. There then came an increasing admixture of the vernacular, and lay folk also performed in them. This gradual secularization of the religions drama was accompanied by a corresponding physical move. The drama moved out of the church through the west door. Thus, what had been sacred drama became, literally, profane. From the church yard to the market place was the next logical step.