During this last weekend 2nd-3rd March 2024, Esparreguera hosted the Fira Passiò, a fair where the local Passion Play is the heart and reason for a number of events, stands, rehearsals and much more.

Europassion was present to assist to this amazing event! Don't miss next time!

See more at
https://www.facebook.com/lapassioesparreguera/posts/973145544161921?ref=embed_post
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=970881677721641&set=a.335696527906829&type=3&ref=embed_post
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=963025261840616&set=a.335696527906829&type=3&ref=embed_post

To see what happened you can check the programme here
https://lapassio.net/esparreguera-celebra-la-6a-edicio-de-firapassio/


Photo report of our presence here

The Salmünster Passion Play celebrated its premiere on Saturday, February 17th. The Europassion was also a guest with 88 friends from 16 places.

After a six-year break, it was time for the approximately 150 participants to raise the curtain on the Salmünster Passion Play. This time too, the ensemble sets new accents: The specially written text deals with the parable of the prodigal son under the motto "Seek, then you will find”, which acts as a red thread through the story of the Passion. It's about losing your footing in life and finding it again.

The stage design will also be new, with a sophisticated system of canvas that can be opened and closed as needed. A special highlight this time is the music by David Münzberger, which was specially composed for the Passion Play. Some of the Europassion representatives from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria arrived on Friday evening.

Accommodation in the nearby monastery and, for some, in the log cabin in Ahl made it possible to have an informal first evening in the buttonhole. On Saturday, the education and retreat house offered Europassion guests an introductory seminar on the topic "The Prodigal Son”. The participants and seminar leaders experienced a lively exchange. The youth exchanged ideas in the local salt cave about further shaping the content of youth work within the association. In the afternoon, all Europassion guests and guests of honor were officially welcomed at a short reception in the Salmünster generation meeting place, before the ecumenical service with the patrons, Bishop Michael Gerber and Bishop Beate Hofmann, took place.

After a short refreshment, around 200 invited guests attended the premiere of our 16th Passion Play. The players in Salmünster are making the story of Jesus' suffering tangible until March 16th. Further information is available online at www.passionsspiele-salmuenster.de.
 

 

 

On July 25th  2023 some Eropassion Board members visited the Culture and Dicastery in the Vatican City; the delegation was received by Mons. Carlo Maria Polvani and Don Fabrizio Capanni. A following meeting with the Evangelization Dicastery involved Mons. Michele Fiorentino and Dott. Marco Lucente.
The meetings had been arranged by Europassione Italia's President Flavio Sialino in order to evaluate possible future collaboration and initiatives between the Church and the european Passion Plays.

The General Secretary Thomas Hummel, eventually met Monsignor Josè Manuel Del Rio Carrasco, former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.

The 2023 Europassion General Assembly was held in Horice na Sumave (CZ) from 8th to 11th June 2023, and brought together 38 groups from all over Europe.

The meeting opened with a visit to the beautiful town of ²eský Krumlov. While they marbled at the famous medival castle and explored the city with guided tours during the day, in the evening the participants enjoyed a specially organised concert of Bohemian music at the Monastery of the Friars Minorites. The concert was conducted by Jaroslav Kr¹ek, composer of the soundtrack of the Horice Passion.
On Saturday the delegates gathered in the House of Culture in Hořice na Šumavě where they attended a lecture by Dr. Ludmila Muchová entitled "Attracting Transcendence" and the historical presentation "Passion Plays in Hořice" by Profs. Jan Palkovi¹ and Martin Neudörfl.
The General Secretary Josef Lang, along with the members of the Europassion Board briefly illustrated the activities, performances and news of the association since the last meeting in March 2022, together with the financial report. Franz Miehl, director of the electoral committee, subsequently presented the results of the elections which took place via email between April and May.

The new board is therefore comprised of:

Thomas Hummel, from the passion of Salmuenster DE is the new Secretary General;
Herman Josef Christen from Schönberg BE was confirmed as Secretary,
Lex Houba from Tegelen NL was confirmed as Treasurer;
Andrea Schiffo from Ciconicco IT was appointed to Public Relations while
Paolo Arienta from Romagnano Sesia IT and
Andreas Krenn from Feldkirchen bei Graz AT were included in the new board as co-opted members, respectively with functions of collaboration in the treasury and public relations.
Don Fulvio Dettoma from Sordevolo IT is confirmed chaplain of Europassion. He delivered a profound message of encouragement which all the groups have received with faith and hope.

The representatives of the groups for each nation were then confirmed as members of the board as follows:

Thomas Hummel (Salmuenster DE) for Germany,
Lex Houba (Tegelen NL) for Holland, Belgium and United Kingdom,
Wolfgang Miehl (St. Margarethen AT) for Austria, Czechia, Hungary and Romania,
Jordi Ros I Mas (Esparreguera Catalonia) for Spain,
Flavio Sialino (Europapassion for Italy IT) for Italy and Switzerland,
Andreja R. Megusar (Ventus Passionis SI) for Slovenia and Croatia.
New representatives for France and for Poland have been also appointed:
Lucas Montvignier-Monnet (Tullins FR) for France
Marcin Caban (Cyeszin PL) for Poland.

Among the main objectives of the new Board are the revision of the statute and the formal/bureaucratic regularization of the Europassion association, the involvement of young people, the cohesion between groups, the improvement of communication and image, the promotion of peace between peoples and the spread Christ's message "love one another" in the dimension of the European community of the Passions of Christ.

The handover from the previous management to the new board of Europassion was the warmest moment: Josef Lang former Secretary General (Auersmacher DE), Franz Miehl (St. Margarethen DE) former member of the Council and country representative for Austria, and André Pesleut former head of Public Relations ( Ligny BE) were greeted by the new General Secretary Hummel, and they were deeply thanked for having cultivated the community of European passions for 28 long years.
Their 28 year long effort to cultivate the community of European passions was acknowledged with the utmost gratitude by all of the new board members. To honor their relentless work across almost 3 decades they were awarded an honorary membership to Europassion and received a variety of farewell-gifts.

The meeting continued on the Saturday afternoon with greetings from the Mayor of Hořice and other local political and religious institutions, a visit to the Via Crucis and the Holy Sepulcher with the ruins of the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows in the woods near Hořice, as well as the opening ceremony of the monument dedicated to the people who made the history of the Hořice Passion Play.

In the evening, the Archbishop P. Kro¹il and vicar P. Pícha celebrated the Holy Mass at the Passion Theater in open air, and the symbolic statue of Europassion was handed over to the Passion Group of Csíksomlyó (RO) where the Europassion Congress will take place in June 2024. The setting of the sun gave way to the Play of the Passion of Christ which -although wet by the rain- fascinated all the people for its splendid natural scenery immersed in the Bohemian forest, captivating those who had come from the rest of Europe to witness to the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ staged by the people of Horice.

Click here to open a photo report of the Congress in Horice.

When an entire village depicts the passion of Christ, with Stefan Radinger and brother Peter Ackermann

Here is the recording from Radio Maria, in German

https://www.radiomaria.at/audio?rtid=32632

The Passion Play was probably performed for the first time in 1621 in the Bavarian Waal. In the hope of being able to keep the plague away from the community, a tradition that goes back more than 400 years has developed. With a successful premiere on May 6th, the Waal Passion Play started the current playing season in the spirit of this anniversary. Manfred Dempfer directed for the first time. He stepped in at short notice for Florian Werner, who had to resign from the game management for health reasons. Dempfer brought a very personal touch, above all with a text version he himself revised. Among the numerous visitors this year were delegations from the friendly Passion Play locations of St. Margarethen, Neumarkt, Erl, Sömmersdorf and Oberammergau. The Passion will be performed in Waal until October 8th.

Information, impressions, media reports and tickets are available at: https://passion-waal.de

Image rights: Wolfgang Miehl 2023

8. 6. - 11. 6. 2023

The Confraternita di Bitonto communicates the sad news of the death of its president Pasquale Carriello.  Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends in Bitonto.

Last September 22th, the honourable Mrs. Laura Borràs, President of the Parliament of Catalonia, received in a hearing the Catalan Play Federation.

Carlo Pedrazzo left us after having fought until the last against incurable evil, which had struck him for over one year. Wise man, with a good soul and a great heart, friend of all, tireless worker and always present. He has always been a member of our Association and has participated in the representations of Christ’s Passion from a very young age, interpreting various roles, both as an actor and as figurant. His talents were a combination of entrepreneurial experience, intelligence, prudence, wisdom and foresight. His greatest contribution has always been to the Board of Directors, of which he was a member for many years, finally becoming President of the Association since the 2000 edition of the Passion and until 2015 Now he has reached his beloved Nella, his wife,who he loved so much and left him too soon. Ciao Carlo, leave a void we’ll never be able to fill. There’s no words to thank you for everything you’ve done for us and for everyone who’s been lucky to meet you. Protect from up there your beloved "Passion of Sordevolo”!

 

33 passion groups from 13 European countries participated in this year's Europassion meeting in Tullins. 170 participants enjoyed the weekend; A photo report of the meeting can be found at

 

The 33rd International Congress of Europassion has as focus the memory of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Further visits are planned in the Great Hungarian Plain and in the city of Kecskemét. Kecskemet is home to 110,000 people, the eighth largest city in Hungary and is situated 80 km south of Budapest.

The theater Katona József Kecskemét has set itself the task to present the Passion of Jesus Christ on an outdoor stage. The extraordinary thing about the performance in Kecskemét is that the Passion from the aspect of the Hungarian Pauline is shown.

From 15 - 17 July 2016, more than 100 Passion players gathered from Passion 25 Passion venues in St. Margarethen. Participants came from Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria.

Highlights of the friendly encounter was the joint visit of the passion play and a reception for all participants and guests of the meeting.

They are the passion groups of Cervera, Esparreguera, Molins de Rei, Olesa de Montserrat, Ulldecona and Vilalba dels Arcs. The Federation is born to promote these traditional Holy Week plays and to spread the theater culture and its social aspect all over our country. One of the next steps of the organization is to carry out joint actions and to encourage new members to join.

Vilalba dels Arcs, February 27th,2016 – Today at noon, the village of Vilalba dels Arcs, in Terra Alta, has hosted the presentation of the Catalan Federation of Passion Plays. This association brings together six of the most important passion groups of Catalonia. Its main target is to promote these traditional passion plays of our country and also the theatre culture during the Holy Week. The presidents of the six federated passion plays have attended the event as well as other theatre group members and local and provincial politicians.

The Catalan Federation is formed at present by the passion groups of Cervera, Esparreguera, Molins de Rei, Olesa de Montserrat, Ulldecona and Vilalba dels Arcs. However, other passion groups have already requested to join it, according to Josep Cuscó, president of La Passió d’Esparreguera and of the new Federation. The doors are open for them and they will be invited to the next general assembly where they will be informed about how to become a member.

Nowadays in Catalonia, there are more than 30 passion plays of several formats and lengths, some of them tracing back to the fifteenth century. In these plays, innovation and tradition merge into original and surprising performances in big theatre buildings, small spaces or even outdoors, taking advantage of natural stages.

Cuscó has explained that the main target of the federation is to create synergy between the members and taking advantage of this human potential in order to promote themselves together. Some planned actions are the creation of an advertising spot, technical collaboration and experiences exchange. Passion plays are not only theatre or religion performances but also a social movement which brings together children, youth and adults, and therefore different ways of thinking and ideas. All of them work together towards the same goal. Isidre Sampe, president of La Passió de Vilalba dels Arcs, has pointed out the importance of the values and of all the people that enable these plays.

Ferran Bladé, culture manager of the regional services in Ebro lands, congratulated the drivers of this initiative and emphasized that passion plays are a clear example of the great cultural wealth of our country. He thanked them for their work, their effort and their will of collaboration.

Finally, Marc Sampé, head of communication of La Passió de Vilalba dels Arcs, has announced that a website for this Catalan Federation is being created. The organization will also be present on Facebook and Twitter in order to inform about the actions organized by each passion group as well as the joint events.

The direction board of the "Federació Catalana de Passions”

The direction board positions and the president will change every two years among the members of the federated passion groups. At present, it is formed as follows:

• President: Josep Cuscó, president of La Passió d'Esparreguera.
• Vice president: Jordi Carapuig, president of La Passió d'Ulldecona.
• Secretary: Sam Carrique, president of La Passió d'Olesa de Montserrat.
• Treasurer: Xavier Cañabate, president of La Passió de Cervera.
• Member: Marc Sampé, head of communication of La Passió de Vilalba dels Arcs.
• Member: Miquel Olivé, member of La Passió de Molins de Rei.

The origins of the federation: a decade of gestation

On June 4th 2005, the first meeting of Catalan Countries Passion took place in Esparreguera, due to the nomination of Esparreguera to be Capital of Catalan Culture 2005. Twelve passion groups put together Passió de Passions, a joint play in which all the groups performed a scene of their passion play.

After this event, the idea of creating a federation of Passions emerged. Although it was not until April 28th 2008 that a meeting was held in Reus in order to prepare the foundation of the federation. The volunteer character and some financial troubles of our passion plays in the last years have elongated the process of creating the Catalan Federation of Passion Plays. However, the process finally ended in Olesa de Montserrat on November 21st, 2015.

For more information, please contact:
Marc Sampé
federaciocatalanapassions@gmail.com
Federació Catalana de Passions