Wow. It seems like we have been planning for and promoting the Oberammergau Passion Play for a long, long time. But when something only happens once a decade, it’s a big deal.

Now with the Passion Play production in full swing the days are flying by. There are still some great last minute offers but time is short.

Jeff Scott…

Oberammergau might be the only place on Earth where you can regularly see Jesus drinking a cappuccino.

Wait, let me backtrack… I have been visiting Oberammergau since 1988 and have met quite a few locals and have developed a number of friendships.

Anyway, I was in town last week doing my orientation tour with my group. At around 10 o’clock in the morning I noticed Andreas Richter, one of the two men who are Jesus this year (in Oberammergau, you never play a role; you are the role) sitting at his favorite outdoor cafe in the Dorfstrasse.

After we had passed by and were at a discrete distance, I mentioned to my group that the handsome long-haired gentleman back there was possibly going to be on the stage today as Jesus.

Later that day, I happened to be in a local taxi driven by his father, Werner Richter, whom I’ve known in passing for a number of years. When I mentioned to him that I’d seen his son earlier, Mr. Richter told me that all was going well, and that Andreas was on stage a lot these past days. The other Jesus had caught a bad cold while performing the crucifixion scene, during which Christ is exposed for nearly half an hour.

The next morning as we were driving through Bavaria on our way to the Black Forest, I mentioned my conversation with Mr. Richter to the group. “Yesterday, I took a taxi driven by Jesus’ father,” I said.

One lady, quite astonished, immediately remarked, “Now I’ve heard everything! It’s not bad enough that Jesus drinks coffee, now you’re going to tell me that God is a cabbie!”

Great story Jeff. Sounds like those Passion Play tours are so much more than a single performance.  You and your groups really become a part of life in the Oberammergau region.

The nusthell: 400 years of tradition is back from now through October of this year… and it won’t be back again until 2020. Visit www.collettevacations.com/oberammergau.cfm if you still want tickets.

The word in Oberammergau from Jeff:

Travelers have been gearing up for this for a couple years; Collette’s been planning it for a couple years – now it’s our turn, the Tour Managers, to deliver the trip of a lifetime, since that’s absolutely what this is.

It honestly seems that there is no company at the Passion Play this year that has sold as many seats as Collette. Some companies are struggling to get tickets or run solid tour packages featuring the show; some tour operators offer the play as an option from 4-5 hours away.

So we’re in a very good boat and our travelers are so pleased. Those returning from the first show are still reeling from the adrenaline rush.

Weather Warning:

To travelers going to upcoming shows – dress warmly! It’s very cold here in Germany right now. Many travelers are buying Passion Play fleeces in the village of Oberammergau. This is a great way to revel in the spirit – though I still recommend packing your warm clothes for your trip to the Alpine Region, even just for reassurance.

Sounds chilly – and exciting! Thanks for the updates, Jeff!

The inspiring story of the Oberammergau Passion Play began in 1634 when villagers vowed that if God were to spare them death from the Plague, they would perform a play every ten years depicting the life and death of Jesus. Not a single person fell victim to the Plague after the promise.

Amazingly that tradition lives on today. And I have a hard time sticking to my New Year’s resolution to drink less coffee and get more exercise.

I had a great time at the Passion Play with my family in 1990. I’d heard about the story and the event, seen the photos, spoken with our Tour Managers who’d experienced it before, spoken at length with the Oberammergau tourism board… NOTHING compared to experiencing it with my family by my side.

If you’ve never been to the show before and are planning to go this year, I can only say – I’m envious of you. You get to experience the magic for the first time. You get to watch the most timeless story come to life, with much expectation, but little preparation for how amazing it really is. You get to be taken by surprise. Wonderful surprise. For that, I envy you.

I hope all our Oberammergau travelers are ready! And cheers to those already on the road for the first show TODAY. It’s an exciting time.

We’ve sold more tickets this year to the show than ever before. This truly is the year of the passion. We still have some great offers in place as Collette is one of the few tour operators that got hold of some extra tickets. So if you’ve been thinking about it – I say go for it.

It’s a timeless tale. When the humble Bavarian village of Oberammergau, Germany was infiltrated with bubonic plague in the 1600s, many of the townspeople fell victim to the widespread European pandemic. In 1634, the village performed a Passion Play, making a pact with God and asking their village be spared from The Black Death. As the legend goes, no villagers fell victim to the plague from that moment on. To this day, villagers perform the Passion of Christ once a decade, with 2010 marking the 41^st performance (war and political clashes interrupted a few productions).

The play, performed between May 15^th and October 3^rd, re-enacts the life, death and resurrection of Christ. More than half of the local villagers perform; all amateur actors and many descendants of the original performers that took to the stage more than 375 years ago. As visitors from around the globe flock to this picturesque village to see the renowned play, participants rehearse for nearly a year to perfect the performance. Behind the scenes, seamstresses, costumers and organizers come together to ensure a smooth production. The score, performed by a 60-member orchestra, is more than 200 years old and known for being as powerful and moving as the play itself.

Set in the Ammer River valley, Oberammergau has hosted the play in the same theater since 1820, with the sweeping Ammergau Alps in the distance. Collette Vacations is delighted to offer 8 packages to Europe that feature this amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. See the play on a 10-day tour of Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria, or in 12-day excursion throughout Italy’s historic cities of Rome, Florence and Venice. Other tours include exotic locales such as France, Croatia and Austria.

The time is now. This doesn’t happen everyday. (It doesn’t even happen every year).

Frescoed Building, Oberammergau

That was me writing back in 2005 while on Collette’s Alpine Countries tour. Not so hard now to guess that I was recording my first impressions of Oberammergau. Back then, most family and friends had never heard of Oberammergau and had trouble pronouncing it. Skip ahead five years and the village is practically a household name as the 41^st stage production of the famous Passion  Play takes final shape for its May 2010 opening.  

I recall being entranced with our Collette Tour Manager, Rita, as she told us the story of Oberammergau as our motorcoach made its final descent into the picturesque village from our departure city, Innsbruck, an Austrian gem. From the comfort of my seat, I was transported back to the middle of the Thirty Years War, at the beginning of the 17^th century, the time that the “Black Death,” or plague, crept into the remote mountain valleys of the Alps. The villagers kept vigilant guard to prevent the plague from reaching their town, but a man from Oberammergau named Kaspar Schisler, who was working as a farm laborer outside the village, slipped over the mountains to his home. Within a few days he succumbed to the plague – as did a large number of people of Oberammergau. In fact, within a year, the Black Death had claimed over a fifth of the approximately 1,500 inhabitants of Oberammergau with no end to the plague in sight. What a story!

Because so little was known in those days about germs or how they were spread, people believed that their only chance of survival was to pacify God’s fury. So in 1633, surviving villagers swore an oath to perform a “Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ” every ten years if God would show mercy and release their village from the clutches of the plague. According to a chronicle of the time, from the day the villagers of Oberammergau gathered around the cross to swear their sacred vow, no more villagers died of the plague.  A story with a happy ending…even better!

In 2010, a tradition continues

The rest, as they say, is history. The first Passion Play was staged in 1634. In 1680, the performance was moved to the first year of each decade.  Throughout the centuries, despite many dangers and threats, and amidst the historical and cultural changes that have taken place, the villagers of Oberammergau have maintained their solemn promise. Exceptions to this occurred in 1770 in which the church and the state prohibited the staging of passion plays in any form and again in 1940 because of World War II.

Scene from Oberammergau Passion Play

The Passion Play House, with its vertical stripes and open air stage, is one of the largest of its kind in the world. Up until 1810, the Passion Plays were performed in the cemetery in front of the parish church. In 1830, they were moved to a meadow outside the village. There in 1900, a large hall accommodating 4000 spectators was built, and later in 1930 it was redesigned and enlarged yet again.

Oberammergau Passion Play: The time has come

Collette Vacations, who has for decades taken many thousands of travelers to the Passion Play, offers eight itineraries that include special reserved seating at a Passion Play performance. In spite of the downturn in the economy that began in 2008 and dogged us throughout 2009, there has once again been tremendous interest in this once-in-a-lifetime event.

For those of you that will witness Oberammergau 2010, I would love to hear from you and get your first impression of the village and the play.  I’ll check back on this topic in the spring.

It all began in 1634: This quaint village made a solemn vow to perform a play depicting the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ every ten years if God would spare its residents from the Bubonic Plague. After that vow not a single person fell victim to the plague which was sweeping across Europe.

Since that time, the Passion Play has become an epic event – one that puts Oberammergau on the world’s center stage. In 2010, the 41^st production will take us all by storm again.

Travelers often secure their seats at the Passion Play far in advance. And right now, Collette Vacations is one of the few tour operators still offering tickets.

The Passion Play runs six days a week from May to September. These spellbinding performances last for five hours – with a break for dinner in the middle. Being situated in a beautiful and charming part of Germany, most travelers like to weave the experience into a European vacation. 

DID YOU KNOW?

• The men who live in Oberammergau begin to grow long hair and beards many years prior to the start of each Passion Play for authenticity.
• The play is performed in German – though its emotive depiction transcends language barriers.
• Only residents and children who were born or have lived in Oberammergau for at least 20 years are allowed to participate. 
• Profits made by Oberammergau for the Passion Play are reinvested locally, helping to make Oberammergau a great place to live and visit.

The article touches on the pent-up demand for travel, how Collette steered through a rocky economic climate and the role of the Oberammergau Passion Play on the numbers.

Whether planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy that includes the Oberammergau Passion Play or a quick San Francisco Getaway, the To Do list for today’s savvy traveler should include 3 very important items:

1. Buy travel insurance that promises a full cash refund for cancellation up to the day prior to departure. This small investment will eliminate risk should your plans or budget change.
2. Investigate guaranteed rates and dates. When planning a vacation, it’s good to know that the date you selected will go no matter what and that changes in currency will not affect the price you signed up for.
3. Check that the tour operator you plan to travel with is a reputable company with good financial standing; and a member of The United States Tour Operators Association, backed by the organization’s million-dollar Travelers Assistance Program.

After that, it’s time to starting thinking about the fun you’ll have.

The last time I saw Oberammergau’s Passion Play, I was 9. It’s not to say that I didn’t like it. I just… okay, I didn’t really like it. But: I was 9! It was 7 hours long. About the life of Jesus. And in German. I challenge you to find a 9-year-old leave that open-air theater saying, “Can we see it again, Dad?” For a kid, it’s kind of like church – only a lot longer and more confusing (being in German and all).

My parents and grandmother immediately deemed the show the best experience ever. At the time, I probably thought they didn’t get out enough.

I remember my mom had dressed me in a hunter green, velvet outfit with suspenders which she’d bought in the Bavarian village and made me feel like a Von Trapp. Not that I minded; The Sound of Music was my favorite movie of all time for the first 11 years of my life (okay, maybe it still is). Actually, now that I remember the outfit clearly, I think I looked more like a Swiss yodeler. Regardless – I remember the outfit. I remember snippets from the show. My brother, sister and I actually were really good during it. We didn’t cause a ruckus (considering we were all between 9 and 14, and the show was 7 hours long, I do think that is an accomplishmet). We were quiet and behaved. At one point, I fell asleep on my grandmother’s shoulder.

Now – I work in travel and I understand the legacy of this show that’s been running for over 400 years since the villagers promised God to perform it every 10 years if they were spared any more deaths from the Bubonic Plague. After the vow was made, no one else died from the Plague. The first performance in 1634 sparked the tradition that lives on today.

The story, the show’s endurance, the villagers’ involvement still today… it’s pretty cool.

Our epic adventure in 1990 to see the Passion Play remains one of my favorite family trips. We saw a Sound of Music Dinner Show, saw places where the movie was filmed, visited salt mines in Germany and Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, had fun in Salzburg, Vienna, Lucerne, Zermatt. The trip was so wonderful in fact, that I  returned to the Alpine region following my graduation from college. I revisited favorite sites and saw them with the kind of scope you get after years of world history, geography, and piano lessons focused on classical music (did you know Mozart is from Salzburg?). The “city of Music” welcomed me back with open arms. The experience was new and different from my adventure in 1990.

Back then, I never would’ve said, in regards to the Passion Play, “I want to do it again.”

But… I’m gearing up to head back this year. It’s the year. And now… I really get that. I’d love to experience the Passion Play again – this time so I’ll remember more than the outfit I wear; and mostly so I can really appreciate it. And, okay, I’ll probably visit my favorite Sound of Music spots as well. When in the Alpine region, right?