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Oberammergau is a Bavarian village notable for woodcarving. It is often world famous for the traditional Passion Play, the most important one to survive. The Ommeramagau Passion Play is actually a fairly late survival of a tradition
that is fundamentally medieval. Medieval passion plays depicting the life and death of Jesus were a form of both popular religion and theatrical entertainment. The Oberammergau Passion Play is the most well-know surviving passion play and dates to the 17th century. At that time the villagers who were terrified of an outbreak of bubonic plague and pledged that they would organize a production of a passion play every 10 years. After the plague seems to have subsided in 1633, the village held their first production of the Passion Play in 1634. This was at a time that authorities had suppressed most surviving medieval Passion plays. The village now produces it Passion Play during the first year of each decade and more than 2,000 village residents participate. The Oberammergau Passion Play includes spoken drama, musical and choral accompaniment, as well as a Biblical tableaux vivants, including Old Testament scenes presented as background for the appearance of Christianity.
Oberammergau is a Bavarian village notable for woodcarving. It is often world famous for the traditional Passion Play, the most important one to survive. The Ommeramagau Passion Play is actually a fairly late survival of a tradition
that is fundamentally medieval.
Passion Plays are medieval dramatizations of Christ's Passion. Traditionally Christ's Passion is seen as the last few day's of Christ's life, the period of intense suffering from the Garden of Gethsemane to his Crucifixion. The medieval passion plays gradually grew in length and commonly included Old Testament scenes as well as the Resurrection. They evolved from the religious fest days and varied in content because of a wide range of local influences. They began to appear in the 10th century in a basic form and had reached their peak of development n the 14th century. There were regional differences as the the style and content. They are of considerable historic importance because they represent an expression of the fervent religious of medieval Europe. They were also the first appearance of formal drama in Europe since classical times. Although the Church had played a role in the evolution of Passion Plays, they were unable to maintain control of these productions which over time became more popular entertainment than religious celebration. Ecclesiastical (Catholic and Protestant) and civil authorities acted to suppress the productions in the 16th century. The Oberammergau Passion Play is the most important one to survive.
The Oberammergau Passion Play is the most well-know surviving passion play and dates to the 17th century. At that time the villagers during the Thirty Years War were terrified of an outbreak of bubonic plague. They pledged that they would organize a production of a passion play every 10 years. After the plague seems to have subsided in 1633, the village held their first production of the Passion Play in 1634. This was at a time that authorities had suppressed most surviving medieval Passion plays. They changed to decennial years in 1700. The play itself seems to have been a fairly standard Passion Play of earlier medieval times with the simple village people explaining the story of the death of Jesus.
There have been only a few years in which the people of Oberammergau did not perform
their play, during the Franco-Prussian War (1879) and during World War II when the NAZIs banned religious plays.
The village now produces it Passion Play during the first year of each decade. It continues to be an entirely local production and more than 2,000 village residents participate. The Oberammergau Passion Play includes spoken drama, musical and choral accompaniment, as well as a Biblical tableaux vivants, including Old Testament scenes presented as background for the appearance of Christianity.
As can be seen here the village children also participate (figure 1). As far as I know the children are mostly included in crowd scenes. With the Biblical tribunal of Pilatus, the bearing of the cross through streets of Jerusalem, and with the crucifixion there are a lot of people on the stage, children included. A tradition of the Oberammergau Passion Play has been for as much as the village to participate as possible.
I am not sure how the original Oberammergau Passion Plays were costumed. The modern plays seem to be richly costumed in Biblical/Roman costumes. The photograph here shows some of the children involved, probably in the 1930 production. Most of the children wear Lederhosen. This would not be unusual for Bavarian boys, but some of the children seem to be girls. A German reader writes, "I think that - looking to the shoes - most of the children in the first row are girls. There are three kids, far right, far left and one in the black pullover, whom I suppose to be boys, the third and fourth in the first row from left to right are in my opinion certainly girls (no Bavarian farmers boy will have such shoes). And note the one on the far right with long stockings scrolled down below the knees." So we are not sure if the children are boys with long hair or girls, perhaps both. And we do not know if the children here are wearing costumes worn in the play. The Lederhosen seem strange for a Passion Play, but perhaps Bavarian folklore is included in the play, but why would the girls wear Lederhosen. The sandals seem more appropriate for the Biblical scenes. Open-toe sandals were not common in Germany during the 1930s.
Passion plays commonly included strong anti-Semitic elements. Commonly Judas betraying Christ was an important scenes. Since World War II and the NAZI Holocaust the villagers have attempted to downplay the anti-Semitic elements.
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