The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1880-06-09
"THE PASSION PLAY"
A Unique Performance which Took
Place nc Ober-A mmeagau In bavaria.

3
Play" relic of medieval times, which
was performed this year for the first
time in ten years in a Bavarian village
before assembled thousands, many of
them strangers from all parts of the
world: To-day, in n remote village of
the Bavarian Highlands, within rude
theater, the most part of which is open
to the sky. there is seated all day long,
from eight in the morning till five in
the afternoon, with an interval of an
hour at noon for refreshments, some
five or six thousand people, peasants
from the neighboring villages, sight
seers from the near-lying Bavarian
towns, and tourists from far and near,
from England and America. They are
gathered together, some for devot ion,
others out of curiosity, to witness the
first representation of a unique and in
teresting drama, the only surviving
medieval relic in Germany of the kind
which has come down with unbroken
tradition. The scene of the drama is
the village of Ober-Ammergau, and the
play. to give it its full title, 1.-The Great
Expiatory Sacrifice of Golgotha, or the
Narrative of the Passion and Death of
Jesus, According TO the Four Evange-
lists, with TableauX Vivants Taken
From the Old Testament" The actors
are humble villagers, under the guild
ance and direction of their village pas
tor. None other has ever acted in the
play, and yet it can trace its existence
back for centuries; indeed, its origin is
lost in the remote past. For long years
its fame was confined to its own imme-
diate neighborhood, but in these days
of the railway, the telegraph, the press
and tourist agencies, it was impossible
to keep its fame from spreading far and
wide and thus it came to pass that,
from being q spectacle for humble
villagers and the goal of a decennial
pilgrimage for the devout, it has become
center of attraction to the pious and
curious of two continents.
The last performance of the Passion
Play" was given in 1871, as a crowning
religious act of the general enthusiasm
which prevailed i'll Germany after the
victories of the German troops in
France and the returning peace. The
performance OF 1870, the proper year for
the exhibition, was interrupted by the
breaking out of the war, in consequence
of which the theater had to be closed
long before the appointed time, and the
visitors were scattered to the four
winds. Forty of the men and youth of
Ammengau, among them several who
had taken part in the play, were called
to the ranks of the Bavarian army.
Joseph Maier, the delineator OF the
character of Christ Gas in the present
Year,, was among those who had to per-
form military duty, although it tortu-
nately happened that the reigning king
of Bavaria, Ludwig H., who had ever
manifested deep interest in the "Pas-
sion Play" interfered in his favor, and
allowed him to do garrison duty in
Munich and retain his long, flowing
hair. Of the forty who left the village
in 1870 for the war, six never returned
two fell in battle and four died in the
hospital. When the news OF the peace
concluded between Germany and
France arrived in the Bavarian High
lands, fires of JOY were lighted on every
to the Tyrol, and the villagers of Ober-
Ammergau met together and deter
mined to give a representation of their
Passion Play" in honor of the event.
"This," they said, "shall be our method
OF thanking Gody who has bestowed on
lis the blessings Cf victory and peace"
Since then nine years have passed, during
which time the villagers have prepared
themselves for the representation which
begins to- day. When we look at the
names of the players we can hardly
realize that nine years have elapsed
since the last performances. With the
exception of Anastasia Krach, who
takes the place of Marie Flunger in the
role of the Virgin, there is not a single
change of Importance. Truly, time
does not seem to age the simple dwell
eFs OF the Ammerthal.
The Passion Play''is composed of no
less than eighteen acts, representing the
Of Efr. = Ia, ,,,.A l1,.,,
salem to the resurrection and ascension.
Each of the eighteen acts is prefaced
with one or more tableauX ViVants, the
subject of which is taken from the Old
Testament. They stand in the closest
connection with the dramatic part of
the performance, being So many SYM
bols and prophecies of the scenes from
the life Of Christ, which they are in
tended to Illustrate The small text
book published by the community Of
Ober-A Ammergau has very appropriate
remarks upon this subject by the Gest-
hcher Rath Daisenberger: "Our main
object" he says, is TO represent the
story OF Christ's Passion, not by a mere
statement of the facts, but in its con-
nection with the types and figures and
prophecies of the Old Testament. By
this manner of treatment an additional
oIlOnS llguI Will De caSG upon Gle strong
narrative, and the thoughtful spectator
will be able to realize the grand truth
that Jesus Christ, the son of God, made
map for our salvation, is the central
figure of the inspired volumes. As in
the history of the Christian church,
the life of the Savior and all his sacred
actions are continually repeated
and reproduced, to the extent that,
according to Scriptural commen-
tators, he lives over again, suffers
and triumphs again in his saints, so it
happened before His appearance in the
flesh, and the holy patriarchs and other
saints of the Old Testament for
shadowed His coming by the events of
their history and by their virtuous
lives; for He is the eternal sun of the
spiritual world; the sun of justice, send
ing forth His divine rays to illuminate
IN all directions both His predecessors
and His successors, no less than His