Oberammergau Passion Play, Germany
September
2010
The
41st Season of the Oberammergau Passion Play
Every
ten years, with the notable exceptions of 1770 and 1940, the villagers of
Oberammergau have performed the Passion Play with great verve. In the year
2010, the villagers take to the stage for the forty first time and, once
again, act out the suffering and the death of the Nazarene, Jesus Christ.
The
plot of the Oberammergau Passion Play has not changed since the first
performance, 376 years ago: Christ's entry into Jerusalem, the Last
Supper, the kiss of betrayal on the Mount of Olives, the mocking Roman
soldiers, and the women who followed Christ to his crucifixion. Time and
time again it is the same ritual: men and women let their hair grow for a
year, the roles are cast, be they players or singers, and the young and
old of the village go through a long and difficult series of rehearsals.
Finally, in the summer of every tenth year, Jesus, Mary, Judas, John and
Peter, the high priest Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate and the children of
Jerusalem are called back to life. More than one hundred performances of
the Passion Play are planned between May and September of 2010. And so it
has been, going right back to the time of the Thirty Years' War, when a
plague broke out in large parts of Europe, taking the lives of many more
people than the war itself. The Black Death crept into the remote mountain
valley at the foot of the Kofel where Oberammergau lies, in 1632.
According to a chronicle of the time, the residents of the village set up
a vigilant watch, and for a time they succeeded in keeping out the plague.
During the annual fair held to
commemorate the dedication of the village church, a man named Kaspar
Schisler, who had worked outside the village during the summer, slipped
over the mountains to his house in the village. Within a few days he
succumbed to the plague, as did a large number of the people of
Oberammergau. In 1633, devastated by the plague, the people of
Oberammergau pledged to perform the Passion Play as a sign of their
repentance and remorse over the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. The
year 2010 will be the 41st season of the Oberammergau Passion Play.
A
large group from Niagara joined Msgr. Dominic Pizzacalla, Pastor of St.
Julia's Church in St. Catharines, to Oberammergau in 2000. We invite you
to pre register for 2010.
Tour
cost: will be available towards the end of 2008
Pre
registration cost: $ 100 per person to secure your place; $90
refundable until a few weeks after the detailed program has been published
and mailed to each pre-registrant should you decide not to participate.
Register early as this trip will sell out!
To
register, please complete the Registration Form and return
to Brinkman Travel Inc, 3 Mountainview Drive, St. Catharines, ON L2T 3H3.
Brinkman Travel Inc, 3 Mountainview Drive, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
L2T 3H3
Phone: 905.988.9100 Fax: 905.988.9400 Email: mail@brinkmantravel.com
Website: brinkmantravel.com
© 2008 Brinkman Travel Inc.
All rights reserved.