Mystery Play of Elche

The Misterio de Elche (Spanish pronunciation: [misˈteɾjo ˈðe ˈeltʃe]), in English the Mystery Play of Elche or Elche Mystery Play and in Valencian Misteri d'Elx (Valencian pronunciation: [misˈtɛɾi ˈðɛʎtʃ]), is a liturgical drama dating from the Middle Ages, which is enacted and celebrated in the Basilica de Santa María in the city of Elche on 14 and 15 August of each year. In 2001, UNESCO declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It commemorates the Assumption of Mary.

Two stories exist regarding the date of creation of the Elche play. The most ancient and strange locates its origins in the 13th century, and was first proposed by Cristobal Sanz, author of a history of the city, at the beginning of the 17th century. After confessing that he had not been able to prove his history, he proposed that the earliest inhabitants of the city had celebrated it in 1276. He also adds another older story: after the conquest of the city by king James I the Conqueror (1265), the inhabitants of the city conceived the idea of a Mystery Play on the day the city was retaken from the Moors. In 1717 José Antón, Attorney General of the Marquisate of Elche, repeated this last idea, but added a miraculous aspect: the arrival on a beach of Elche of a mysterious ark in May, 1266, containing the image of the Virgin of the Assumption and the Consueta (the book that contains the text and occasionally the music of the play).

This story was maintained in part to excuse a possible mistake of the composer Óscar Esplá (1886–1976), who asserted that in 1924, he had been shown a letter of 1266 authorizing the play, which was preserved in the Municipal Archives of Elche, despite the fact that it has never been seen since or even cited. The work carried out by Esplá, and his importance as a composer, revived the theory of the play's origin in the 13th century.

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