Medieval Christmas Plays - Dec. 16 & 17

First Presbyterian Church

Medieval Christmas Plays, Friday, Dec. 16 and Saturday, Dec. 17, 8:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church.

In December, every other year since 1962, two Medieval Christmas plays are presented to the village.

The two plays trace their origins to 13th century Germany and are similar to folk plays presented in villages all over Europe at a time when very few people could read. As popular entertainment as well as a way of telling bible stories, the plays were handed down virtually unchanged for centuries. The Yellow Springs version was brought here by a family who arrived from Germany in 1962 and recruited local people to produce the plays.

The two short plays are The Paradise Play and The Nativity and Shepherds Play. The first tells the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Eden, and the second is about the birth of Jesus, as seen through the eyes of local shepherds. The two plays together illustrate the fall and the redemption of human kind.