The origin of the Latin Visit to the Sepulcher and the related ceremonies of the Good Friday Depositio (usually involving the burial of a consecrated wafer and/or image) and Easter Elevatio, which first appeared in the Regularis Concordia (c. 980 CE) from Winchester, remains controversial, but the various forms taken by these dramatic rites have been most fruitfully studied from the standpoint of the geographical distribution of texts and music, rather than of theory (especially the discredited theory of evolutionary development). While centers of this music-drama activity were monasteries and cathedrals, widespread records of parish church presentation exist at least for the Depositio and Elevatio. The Easter sepulchers required for these are recorded in great numbers throughout much of Europe, and many still exist.

The distinction between rite and mimetic drama is necessarily blurred. The semidramatic Palm Sunday procession is...