The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-12-23
THE PASSION PLAY.
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These be christian times Or very
near them, and it was appropriate that
the season should be ushered in with
a most satisfactory presentation OF
the great Oberammergau Passion Play
given by Franklin Pierce Jolly of
Joliet which entertainment is written
elsewhere In these columns It is the
aChristmastide or the events which
lead up to the possibility of so much
kindly spirit that makes the play Ia
nous 1t is a Christ play, and Christ
mas Is Christ day, the accepted an
niversary of his birth.
Oberammergau is only famous for
the play 1t produces every ten years
and the facts that brought about the
conception Of the play and continues
its presentation. 1t is only a plain,
simple village in the mountain valley
of the Ammer in Upper Bavaria, lies,
we are told, 2,760 feet above the sea
and about forty-ive miles to the
southwest of Munich. 1t contains only
a small population Of earnest, faithful
folk, who have long been mainly en-
gagged In making toys and in carving
crucifxes, images of saints and ros-
aries. Their homes are quaint, and
characteristic of the good people who
occupy them. many Of them adorned
with striking frescoes of Biblical sub
jects. This Passion Play is now at
tended by many thousands OF Europ-
can and American visitors.
The Oberammergau Passion Play,
or dramatic representation of the suf-
ferings of Christ, might be thought to
be survival of some medieval mys-
terry or miracle play, but it is not. 1t
took its rise from vow made by the
inhabitants in 1853 with the hope of
staying off plague then raging. 1t
is claimed that the original text and
arrangements were made by the
Monks of Ettal, monastery a little
higher up the valley; but these were
carefully remodeled by the parish
priest at the beginning of the last
century, when the Oberammergau
play obtained exemption from the gem
Ieral suppression of such performances
by the Bavarian government The
music was composed by Rochus Ded-
Ter, schoolmaster OF the parish in 1914.
The performances took place in the
summer, in large open-air theatre,
holding thousands of people, and each
performance lasts about nine hours
with short intermision at noon.
Each scene from the history of Christ
| is prefaced with a beautiful tableaux
of typical import from the Old Tesla
ment. About 700 actors are required,
all belonging to the village. The pro-
ceeds Of the performances are de-
voted to the good OF the community,
after paying off the costs and the pay
ment of small remuneration to the
actors.
The villagers regard the Passion
Play as a solemn act of religious wor-
ship and visitors are impressed with
its grandeur and the reYerential awe
which its presentation creates The
principal parts are usually hereditary
in certain families and are assigned
with regard to moral character as well
as dramatic ability. 1t is considered
a disgrace not to be allowed to take
part in the play. and the part of
Christ is loked upon as one of the
greatest Of earthly honors.
In the years Intervening between
| the representations, the villagers are
carefully drilled in dramatic perform
ances by the pastor, and most wit
nesses agree in rating very highly the
results produced by the combined re-
lligious fervor and artistic instinct OF
the Alpine peasants.
One writer says: TT is to be fear
ed, however, that the concourse OF
fashionable visitors who now flock to
the performances, will gradually have
the effect of impairing its genuineness
and simplicity" Modern commercial
ism. high finance, the higher criticism,
new style religions and frivolous FISH
ions prove continuous strain on
"old time religion, and many things
which were reverenced with purity OF
4 thought and action in the older days
of the world, become corrupted. The
Passion Play, however, situated in
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