Passion (Christianity) - Drama and Processions

Drama and Processions

Non-musical settings of the Passion story are generally called Passion plays; these have been very widely performed in traditionally Catholic countries, often in churches as liturgical dramas - for versions with musical settings, see the previous section. One famous cycle is performed at intervals at Oberammergau Germany, and another in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco uses what is considered the largest open-air theater in the world. The Passion figures among the scenes in the English mystery plays in more than one cycle of dramatic vignettes. In the Chester Mystery Plays' portrayal of Christ's Passion, specifically his humiliation before his sentence to crucifixion, the accounts of the Gospels concerning the physical violence visited on Jesus during his trial before the Sanhedrin, and the humiliating crowning of thorns visited upon him in Pilate's palace (or by Herod's soldiers, according to Luke), is further confused by showing both actions as being carried out by jeering Jews.

Processions on Palm Sunday commonly re-enact to some degree the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem; traditional ones often using special wooden donkeys on wheels. Holy Week in Spain retains more traditional public processions than other countries, with the most famous, in Seville featuring floats with carved tableaux showing scenes from the story.

There have also been a number of films telling the passion story, with a prominent recent example being Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. A tradition linked to icons of Jesus holds that Veronica was a pious woman of Jerusalem who gave her kerchief to him to wipe his forehead. When he handed it back to her, the image of His face was miraculously impressed upon it.