IN a tradition dating back to 1634, the once-in-a-decade event that is the Oberammergau Passion Play will be performed in the Bavarian hamlet in May 2020.
German actor Frederik Mayet, a third-generation villager, who will take the part of Jesus in the passion play, recently visited Australia to help promote the event.
The casting of Mayet, an Oberammergau native, is in keeping with tradition, which stipulates that only those who were born in Oberammergau, or who have been living there for at least 20 years, have the "right to play" in the performance.
Mayet's grandfather, a wood carver, moved to Oberammergau in 1890.
Collette has a comprehensive suite of tours featuring the passion play.
They include Imperial Cities, Austrian Delight, Classic Danube River Cruise, Discover Switzerland, Austria & Bavaria and Alpine Explorer & Glacier Express Train.
The tours will follow their established itineraries before finishing up in Oberammergau, which is located in the Bavarian Alps.
Oberammergau's devout villagers first performed the play in 1634 in the hope they would be spared the horrors of the Black Death that was devastating Europe.
The villagers survived the plague, attributing it to divine intervention. As a token of their thanks, they have performed the passion play once a decade ever since.
Profits from the show are reinvested in the village.
More than half a million spectators viewed the production when it last took place in 2010.
Details - 1300-792-195, gocollette.com/passionplay
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