Good Friday Ceremonies

The Good Friday commemoration of the burial of Christ gave birth in the Middle Ages to two ceremonies that made use of articulated figures. When performed by the clergy, it was a liturgical ritual called Depositio. This ceremony appeared toward the fourteenth century and disappeared after the Council of Trent. A paraliturgical ceremony, performed by members of penitential confraternities, appeared around the same time but has survived until our time, where it is still performed in Europe in countries like Italy or Spain, and outside of Europe, in countries that were part of New Spain or the Portuguese Empire. This volume studies these rituals in medieval Bohemia, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Scandinavia, and the German-speaking lands.