Oberammergau Passion Play over a year away. Time to start planning

OBERAMMERGAU, GERMANY.  The year was 1633. Europe was in the midst of the Thirty Years War and the devastating Black Plague that wiped out between a third to a half of the population of Europe. During this time, having already endured 80 deaths, citizens of the tiny village of Oberammergau, Germany made a sacred pledge that every ten years they would perform a “Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ” if God would only protect them from further ravages of the plague. According to legend, following the vow, not a single person came down with the disease, and perhaps even more miraculously, everyone who was afflicted with the plague at the time of the oath survived. And so the now world famous Oberammergau Passion Play was born.

Parish church in Obrammergau where the passion play began in 1634 (Photo :Zebulon –Public Domain)

The tradition of the Oberammergau Passion Play

True to the villagers’ original promise to God, they performed the Oberammergau Passion Play for the first time during Pentecost in 1634. The village has fulfilled its agreement every ten years since, except in 1940 in the midst of World War II.

In the nearly 400 years since the promise was made, there have been a few times during which the play was performed other than during its traditional ten year span. Such events might include a Jubilee year in Rome, for example.

Today, the play occurs regularly once every decade during a year beginning

Article source: https://www.commdiginews.com/travel/oberammergau-passion-play-115872/