The history of the play is that in 1633, the residents of Oberammergau, Germany, vowed that if God spared them from the bubonic plague ravaging the region, they would produce a play thereafter for all time depicting the life and death of Jesus. The death rate among adults rose from one person per 1000 per year in October 1632 to twenty in the month of March 1633. The adult death rate slowly subsided to one in the month of July 1633. The villagers believed they had been spared and they kept their part of the vow when the play was first performed in 1634. The production currently involves over 2,000 performers, musicians and stage technicians, all residents of the village. Because of the massive production it takes to put on and prepare for the play, it is now performed repeatedly over the course of five months during every year ending in zero.
The town is also know for its homes that are painted with frescoes. As you drive into the town, all the homes have extremely elaborate frescoes painted all around them. Its amazing and beautiful! Each home has a somewhat different theme.
We stopped here and had about an hour to walk around and do some shopping in the cute woodworking shops they have there. We bought a few things, mostly Christmas themed, as well as our obligatory postcard. I truly feel like we are in the Alps now. This town is amazing and I could just imagine it covered in snow in the winters and filled with flowers in the spring & summer!
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