The basic mumming play involved a hero, a villain, a woman and a healer. The hero and villain vie for the hand of the woman and end up battling one another. The villain slays the hero. Then all is thought to be lost. Then the healer shows up and resurrects the hero and the villain is vanquished.

In the 3rd Degree story, 3 craftsmen try to extort the Master's Word from Hiram Abiff--the master builder of Solomon's Temple. When their attempts to extort the Word fail, the 3 craftsmen kill him and bury his body. Upon locating his grave, Solomon pulls Hiram's body up using the Lion's Paw grip and the secret word is then divulged via the 5 points of fellowship. The 3 craftsmen are executed and Hiram lives on in the new initiate.

So, in both stories, you have a villain who wants something from the hero. They battle, the hero is slain, then he is raised up.

Now I'm not saying, mind you, that the 3rd Degree descended from mumming plays necessarily. I am saying there are definite similarities and so at least have their genesis in the same legend.

What legend? The age-old legend that is repeated from Ancient Egypt to Sumeria to Ancient India to Scandinavia to Greece to Christianity. The story of the dying god. Christianity is nothing new--same old story with a new location and new characters playing the same old roles.

It goes back ultimately to astronomy. The mumming villain usually wore a darkened face. He represents what all such villains do--darkness. In this case, that darkness is that which falls starting at the autumnal equinox after which the days get shorter, i.e. the sun is "slain" by a "dark giant" (yes, that includes David and Goliath). After the passing of the winter solstice, however, the sun is "resurrected" and so the days grow longer and light returns.

The problem with masonry acting out supposedly biblical stories occurs when we try to locate this story of the slaying of Hiram Abiff in the bible. Can you find it? The ritual uses biblical characters but it cannot be the reenactment of a biblical story. But the plot of the story can be found in Christianity because it is the story of Jesus Christ. But, as stated, the same plot is found in many other religions--many of them substantially pre-dating Christianity.

I would say that the mumming play and the 3rd deree ritual both descend from mystery plays such as those popular among the Greeks at one time.