Oberammergau

The Oberammergau Passion Play was first performed in 1634. According to local legend, the play is performed every ten years because of a vow made by the inhabitants of the village that if God spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague then sweeping the region, they would perform a passion play every ten years. A man traveling back to the town for Christmas allegedly brought the plague with him by accident. The man purportedly died from the plague and it began spreading throughout Oberammergau. After the vow was made, according to tradition, not another inhabitant of the town died from the plague. All of the town members that were still suffering from the plague are said to have recovered.[3]

The play is now performed in years ending with a zero, as well as in 1934 which was the 300th anniversary and 1984 which was the 350th anniversary (though the 1920 performance was postponed to 1922 due to postwar economic conditions, and the 1940 performance was cancelled due to the onset of the Second World War in 1939). The 2020 was postponed to 2022 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.[4] It involves over 2,000 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, all residents of the village.

The name of the village (as well as that of neighbouring Unterammergau) appears in a well-known German tongue-twister, often sung as a round:

• German: Heut' kommt der Hans zu mir, / freut sich die Lies. / Ob er aber über Oberammergau, / oder aber über Unterammergau, / oder aber überhaupt nicht kommt, / das ist net g'wiß!
• English: Hans will come join with me, / rejoices Lies. / If he comes by way of Oberammergau / or by way of Unterammergau, / or if at all he comes, / that is not sure!

About half the inhabitants of Oberammergau took part in the once-a-decade Passion Play in 2010.

Over 2,000 villagers performed the story of the Passion of Jesus for the audiences from around the world. This was a labor-intensive community enterprise, in which only natives of the village could participate. Performances have taken place between mid-May and early October.

The play has a major economic impact on Oberammergau. There is a local expression "Die Passion zahlt" ("The Passion Play will pay for it") in explaining how the Oberammergau community financed construction of a new community swimming pool, community centre, and other civic improvements. Since 1930, the number of visitors has ranged from 420,000 to 530,000. Most tickets are sold as part of a package with one or two nights' accommodation.

The village is also known as the home of a long tradition of woodcarving; the Bavarian State Woodcarving School is located there. Among the celebrated former students is the German artist Wolfram Aichele. His processional church staff depicting Christ on a donkey can be seen in the church of St Peter and St Paul. The streets of central Oberammergau are home to dozens of woodcarver shops, with pieces ranging from religious subjects, to toys, to humorous portraits.

Oberammergau is also famous for its "Lüftlmalerei," or frescoes, of traditional Bavarian themes, fairy tales, religious scenes or architectural trompe-l'œil found on many homes and buildings. Lüftlmalerei is common in Upper Bavaria and its name may be derived from an Oberammergau house called Zum Lüftl, which was the home of facade painter Franz Seraph Zwinck (1748–1792).

The village is also known for its religious art. A wooden statue of Our Lady of Good Voyage from Oberammergau stands in the Seaport Shrine in Boston, Massachusetts.[5]