Celebrating King Ludwig's Birthday in Oberammergau - by Steffi

Costumes seen inside the Passion Play Theatre
see all photos »

On Aug 24, our family visited a little village called Oberammergau. Oberammergau is located in south central Germany in the Bavarian Region. This village is famous for its wood carvings, its painted houses and the Passion Play.

The Passion Play is about Jesus’ death. The Passion Play is played every ten years because of a vow the people of Oberammergau made in 1633. They made the vow because 80 people had already died from a plague, so they promised that they would put on the Passion Play every 10 years if no one else would die from the plague. After that, no one else died from plague in Oberammergau. Since then, the people of Oberammergau have kept their promise and put on the Passion Play every ten years. Participating in the play are those that were born in Oberammergau or have lived there for 20 years or more. Almost half of the inhabitants of Oberammergau take part in the play and about 500 of them are kids.

It was King Ludwig II’s birthday and all the Bavarians were celebrating

Typical painted house in the Bavarian Alps
see all photos »

We went on a tour of the theatre where the Passion Play is played. Our tour guide has played the part of Mary Magdalene three times already. She can’t even remember how many times she has participated in the play because she started as a very young child. We saw many of the colorful costumes that are used in the play. The new stadium seats about 4000 people. If you want to see the next play which will take place in the year 2010, you will have to book your tickets and seats in the year 2008. Better start booking!

The Oompapa Band inside the restaurant where we had dinner
see all photos »

Wood carvings are another thing that Oberammergau is famous for. As my family and I walked down the streets on the way to our tour of the Passion Play theatre, Christmas ornaments and dancing figures filled the windows of the stores. Intricate designs make up the figures of Bible stories and tell the tales of make-believe stories. Some of the carvings are made to look like it is 3D but backwards, so the room goes in to the frame instead of bouncing out to you. It is really quite amazing how people can carve such tiny items.

The crown of fire on top of the mountain celebrating King Ludwig II's birthday
see all photos »

You’ll find paintings on the walls and ceilings of many buildings in Oberammergau. Some of the paintings are fairy tales, some are Bible stories and others are just fancy dancy frills and columns. Sometimes, if the painting is really good, it looks like there are things coming out of the wall, like columns and decorations. I think that you would have to have years and years of apprenticeship in that art to be perfected enough to paint on the sides of houses without making a mistake. It sure would take a lot of work to fix your mistakes.

Steff outside the Passion Play Theatre
see all photos »

One day for dinner, my family and I went to a Bierstube for dinner. It was jam-packed so we had to share a table with an older friendly couple who was visiting, too. There was a real Bavarian band in Lederhosen and traditional costumes playing in the restaurant. The tuba, accordion, guitar, and bass guitar were played. It was real oompah-pah music, and the couple at our table were singing as loud as they could and clapping to the music. It was very entertaining. Karsten and I were trying to eat our half a chicken meals quietly, but it obviously wasn’t going to happen.

After we came back to our hotel from dinner, we remembered it was King Ludwig II’s birthday and all the Bavarians were celebrating. Previously, during the afternoon, it had hailed ice as big as marbles for a long time and then it had poured. Luckily, it has slowed to a drizzle when my family and I went out to see the celebration. To celebrate, the people of Bavaria make huge bonfires on the mountain tops around Oberammergau. One fire was the shape of an ‘L’, another was in the shape of a crown with a cross on top, and another was a big cross. Along with the fires a band played up in the mountains and you can here it all the way down in the valley. It was almost as loud as an orchestra right in front of you. Supposedly, the band would march down the mountain and be in our village by midnight. We went to bed before that so we didn’t see the band but I heard the cheering and screaming from my bed. It was cool to see how much the people of Oberammergau still honored Ludwig II who had been king in the late 1800’s.

Overall, I think that Oberammergau is a quaint little village that has many unique things. The tour of the Passion Play house was interesting to see and the wood carvings and statues were very artistic. I like this Dorf very much.

Steffi