The article attempts to look at the nativity play in a genological context. The author’s aim is to broaden the context of reading this form of the show. It represents a polemical position towards the unambiguous linking of the nativity play with folk culture. Instead, he suggests looking at it in the context of such forms as literary mimes, mysteries, comedy dell’arte and some mass spectacles. The consequence of this type of considerations is noticing the characteristic, according to the author, tension between the mystery and the farce, sacrum and profanum.