What is the history of the Passion play?
Passion plays developed during the Middle Ages in Europe. These dramas began in the church with elaborations of parts of the liturgy sung during the Mass on Easter Sunday. Religious liturgy, at the time, included laments of Mary and narrative poems sung or chanted in Latin by the priests. By the 13th Century, the plays were expanded to include dramatizations of the characters and events from the Passion story. One of the most renowned Passion plays is performed in Oberammergau, Germany. In the 1600s, after months of suffering and death from the plague, the citizens of Oberammergau swore an oath that they would perform the “Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ” every ten years. In 1634, the first performance was staged. The next performance will be in 2010.
