The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-03-12
Where the Wonderful Pa ssion
Play is to be Again
Enacted.
Dates Back to 1888 and Was
First Produced in
1880.
Since Then Every Ten Years
Has Seen a Repetition
of 1t.

This year all eyes are turned to OBJ
erammergau, that little village in the
Austria Tyrol, where every ten years
the wonderful Passion Play is per-
formed by people who are not profess
sional actors at all, but simple, hard
working village folk.
The village which every decade at
tracts hundreds of thousands Of peo-
PIE from Eli over the world, consists
of 1,400 inla bitants. The chief indus
try 10 wood carving. The village lies
surrounded by mountains; it's highest
the Kofel, upon the summit Of which
a gigantic iron cross stands, is 1884
meters high and appears almost un-
climbable yet some pious and devout
peasants managed to place cross
there.
The Passion plays date back to 1898.
In that year Oberammergau was WIS.,
tied by the plague, or black death, as
they called it, and the inhabitants
took q solemn VOW that if the black
death would quit devastating their
village they would perform Passion
play every ten years as an act Of
gratitude land. Thanksgiving. The
plague diminished and eventually it
ceased completely, and the inhabitants,
true to thoir word, produced their
first Passion Play in $780, From that
time onward every ten years has seen
repetition of it, with the exception
of the year 1870, when nearly all the
male performers were called to arms
for the Frnnco-Prussian war. But the
following year peace had been de-
clared. SO, not to break their vow, the
Passion Play was performed.
Non Catholics are as eager as Catho-
lies to see this village Of Oberammer-
gau and TIE Passion Play which has
made it famous, and Protestant writ
er, who is there at present, writes
as follows of his impressions:
"The village itself is very quaint
Most Of the houses are covered with
painted life. size figures of the Blessed
Trinity or of saints, and some Of the
massive oak doors are wonderfully
carved. What struck me most was
that 80 per cent of the men, youths
and boys, had long hair, some reaching
the shoulders and others half way
down the back. They start letting it
grow in good time in anticipation of
the Passion plays. If they were draped
instead Of wearing peasant costumes,
they would certainly give a Scripture
like aspect to the scene.
"The Christus."
IT sent my card over to Anton Lang,
the impersonator of Christ and was
shortly afterward received by him. He
is tall and 1.-the, has a wonderful ex-
preston in his face. There is some
thing almost uncanny in his resem-
blance to the pictures of Christ as the
latter is represented to us by the old
masters. He and his wife speak Eng
lish f1uently. He is "a years of age,
has three children and it will be the
second time he has played the central
figure having done so in 1900.
"Rehearsals begin in December and
continue every day until the begin
ming of the plays in May, 1910. The
whole play is not, of course, rehearsed
at once but taken in sections. Seven
hundred persons take part in the per-
formances. Half the population, in
fact, and every performer, man, wom-
an and child, must have been born in
Oberammergau, no peasant from any
other village being allowed to act.
The Costumes.
every costume that is worn is made
In Oberanmergau itself, and there
are twenty women and girls sewing all
day long on them already. All the
costumes are exact reproductions of
the real thing, copied in Palestine.
am sure great many people imagine
they are made of cheap theatrical ma
terials, but this is not the case. Stuffs
are used that cost from IL to Is marks
the metre, and Pontius Pilates dress,
the material of which was bought IN