In Chaucer's Miller's Tale, the student Nicholas, motionless, gapes upwards at the ceiling as a part of his complex trick on the old carpenter John, designed – successfully – to seduce John’s wife, Alison. When John finds Nicholas in his trance, he shakes him, saying, ‘Awak, and thenk on Cristes passioun!’ (MilT 3478). The urgent call to be mindful of Christ's Passion appears suddenly and, as a piece of sacred history, seems so inappropriate in the context of the lewd deceit that it has an immediate comic effect.

The attempt to wake someone up from a trance by reminding him of an event long gone, and only known from hearsay, rather than by calling attention to his actual situation and surroundings, may seem ironic. Yet, especially during the late Middle Ages, Christ's Passion was not only an important historical event, it was a crucial narrative re-enacted at every mass and the centre of daily Christian practice, the liturgical calendar and, importantly, personal salvation. The reminder to medieval Christians to ponder the Passion was implicit at all times. Moreover, the coupling of laughter and the Passion was widespread throughout the Middle Ages. Texts that contain this combination are usually called parodic but are not necessarily rooted in folk culture, or critical of the institution of the church, as much previous research has suggested. Many of them were written in Latin and were fully integrated into mainstream Christian writings.