The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-05-04
THESE PEOPLE LIKE HOLY TYPE
PASSION PLAYERS PREPARE FOR
SOLEMN MAY PERFORMANCE.
THEIR HAIR IS GROWING LONG

Numerous Striking ReSemDIanCeS &c
SANITY Figures in Old Paintings
Are Found Among the People OF
Oberammergau Village.
BERLIN.-There is a little village
in Europe the fourteen hundreds odd
of which may safely be stated to be
the busiest on the continent-not
only the busiest, but the most inter-
esting in many ways-and to add to
their "uniqueness" they are all en-
gagged on the same task.
This little village is Oberammer-
gau in the Upper Bavarian valley of
the Ammer, and the villagers are ac-
lively preparing for the famous Pas
sion Play, the first performance of
which is to be given on the third
Sunday of May next, and the final
one on the last Sunday in Septem-
Der.
The people of Oberammergau
have been engaged on these prepare
tions for the last three years, but it
is in March and. April, the last eight
weeks before the production, that
they are most active. The play is
prepared entirely without idea of
profit, and as a thanksgiving or,
rather, celebration of the end of a
plague hundreds of years ago. Wis
itors are merely tolerated or are ac-
copied as pilgrims, who come to see
the performance every tenth year IN
all reverence.
Audience Is International.
So famous, however, are the per-
formances that steamship companies
make special arrangements to carry
visitors from various parts of Amer
lea, while many special Continental
trains are run to bring the pilgrims
in their thousands to the little viii
lage by the Ammer.
Of the spirit in which the play is
produced and the people who per-
form it a well-known writer who has
spent long time in Oberammergau
has said: There is no guile and no
deception. When you meet a man
there you know you may trust him
to the end of earth. It is an at
mosphere that perhaps exists no
where else. and it is the only sort
of atmosphere in which such a the
atrical production could be preserved
in all the sanctity and purity of mo-
tives suggested by its traditions.
In a community deeply religious
at all times the devotional depths
into which the villagers plunge dur
ing the period preceding the per-
formances are profound. But the
time the first of these has been pol
ished to the highest possible state
of perfection, the religious atmos-
phere in the valley of the Ammer be-
comes dense"
ComInercialism Is Lacking.
Each performance is preceded by
mass at six o'clock. Every possible
vestige of commercialism has been
kept foreign to the Passion Play
through all the years it has been
given.
The origin of the Oberammergau
production is commonly supposed to
go back to a great plague nearly
three hundred years ago; but the
Rev Hermitage Day, in little book
let Just published, traces it back
even earlier
LAS early as the fourteenth cen
fury it was being acted under the
guidance of the priests of Rotten
buchf, twelve miles from Oberam-
mergau," he states. In 1880 the
Benedictine House of Ettal was
founded by Ludwig of Bavaria, a
German emperor, who deposited
there the miraculous image which re-
mains over the altar to this day
Presented as a Thanksgiving.
Down to the middle of the seven
teenth century the Oberammergau
Passion Play probably had little to
distinguish it from plays of similar
kind. But it would be natural to
suppose that it always exhibited a
certain artistic superiority and Dig
nifty, since the people of Oberammer-
gau had for centuries followed the
are of wood-carving, making statues
of saints, church decorations, etc.
But in 1858 the event happened
which established the play upon g
new basis. The Bavarian Highlands
were swept in that year by a terrible
epidemic of plague. Nearly hun
dred of the villagers of Oberammer
gau fell victims to it.
Those who remained met togeth
err and made a solemn vow before
God that if the plague were taker
away they would enact their Play Of
the Passion of the Redeemer every
ten years with the utmost skill an6
devotion of which they were capable
Their vow was heard and the
plague was stayed. SO runs the
legend.
No Applause Is Permitted.
AS the performances approach
every ten years the villagers let theil
hair grow long, and it is curious how
like they become to the types as rep
resented in the pictures of the great
painters. No artificial makeup il