In 1633, the Bavarian village made a deal with the Almighty because he released her from the plague. Corona is now ruining the deal – and the Oberammergauers are getting scared.
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In 1633 a miracle is said to have happened in Oberammergau. Pastor Thomas Gröner tries to calm his congregation.
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Nowhere in Germany is the corona virus raging as much as in Bavaria. Almost 30,000 people have been infected in the southern federal state, more than 630 Bavaria have died of it.
But in the Upper Bavarian district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen there is a village that has got off lightly, at least so far: Oberammergau, 5,400 inhabitants. It has infected people here too. There are infected people, but no one has died yet. Perhaps, they think in the Catholic community, God places His protective hand especially over their village. After all, the people of Oberammergau once made a vow in his honor. A kind of promise to God that the place has kept with iron discipline. For 387 years now.
Black death caused great suffering here in the 17th century. In Oberammergau, 80 men died of the plague, and the deceased women were not even listed in the death book. Chroniclers estimate that one in four in the village died of the plague.
After the promise of God, the death rate dropped to zero
In desperation, the Ammergauers turned to the Lord God. They vowed to regularly perform a passion play in his honor when they were freed from the plague. From the day of this promise, the death rate in the village dropped. Soon Oberammergau no longer counted the plague dead, not one.
And the villagers kept their vows. They have been performing the Passion Play in Oberammergau since 1634, and every ten years since 1680. The performances are among the world’s most famous passion games. More than half a million people flock to the pretty town in Upper Bavaria to watch the game, which lasts more than five hours. Half the place participates in the games: children, fathers, grandmothers, the pastor. 2500 contributors. A huge delight in town, years before the performance.
Does the Almighty accept the shift?
From May 16, 2020 to October 4, the time had finally come again. Then, after a ten-year break, the villagers would have re-enacted the last days in the life of Jesus, pompous and impressive and unforgettable. 103 Performed at five and a half hours each. A place like in a trance, from spring to autumn. But now the corona pandemic is raging, life is standing still, also in Oberammergau. The Passion Play in honor of the Lord God, who is said to have freed the village from the plague, had to be canceled – just because of a new plague.
“It’s a drama,” says the Oberammergau dean Thomas Gröner. “The rehearsals were well advanced, 95 percent of the tickets sold, hotels and restaurants bought or ordered their goods,” says the 60-year-old pastor and adds with a sigh: “It is a disaster for the place.”
The games were postponed to 2022. There is, says the pastor of Ammergau, especially believers in town, who now fear that the postponement would be a break with the vow. The virus, they say, will now haunt the city. But Pastor Gröner replies to those concerned that “God is not an accountant who calculates in time periods. God will accept the Passion Play in two years time. »
Bavarian suffering as a sign of God
Gröner himself knows, of course, that the legend of the divine blessing cannot be scientifically proven. But it is just the way it is, he says that according to the promise of the Ammergau there were no more plague deaths and that the place had come otherwise well over the centuries, also due to the corona crisis, at least until now.
So the deal with God helps? Gröner doesn’t like the word. «If I could negotiate a deal with God, he would be a manager, a jumping jack. Faith always precedes a vow. Without a deep faith, a vow does not work, »says the pastor. «I believe that God works. It could have worked at the time the plague raged, »says the pastor. «But was it really so? This is not relevant to my belief. »
And Gröner would not be the optimistic man who holds his community together if he did not see the positive, even a sign of God, in the supposed drama about the postponement of the Passion Play. “It is exactly the story of despair, emptiness and fear, which Jesus also went through and which Oberammergau must now experience.” The pastor is convinced that there will be fantastic Passion Play games in Oberammergau in 2022. “This is nothing more than the resurrection story,” says Gröner and happily adds: “God will also intervene now. He will lead everything to good. »
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