Besides being Constitution Day, today is the opening ceremonies for this year’s Oktoberfest.
For the past two years, the largest Oktoberfest in the world has been cancelled due to corona. Today, after a two-year break, Oktoberfest in Munich opens — at 12 noon.
Oktoberfest began as the marriage ceremony between Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese on October 12, 1810. All of the townspeople were invited to attend the festival, which took place in the fields outside the city gates. Following the wedding the fields were named Theresienwiese after the Princess, and the party was such a hit that the townspeople asked King Ludwig to continue the celebration the following year.
Today the remnants of the gates still stand and the fields, known by locals as the Wies’n, now host the largest beer festival in the world — Oktoberfest! (Wies’n means field or meadow in the Bavarian dialect.)
What was a simple wedding celebration has transformed into a 17 or 18-day festival in which 7 million people from around the world participate — consuming more than 6 million liters of Bavarian beer. That equates to 1 million gallons of beer. Oktoberfest officially begins on the second to last Saturday in September at noon when the mayor of Munich taps the first barrel at the Schottenhamel Tent, crying “O’zapft is” (It’s open.) The festival concludes the first Sunday of October.
The grounds known as Theresienwiese is usually called “Festwiese” by the locals. Half of the year, the grounds are simply a public park. Around June, the tents and fun fair foundations begin their staggered process of construction with a completion date of late September, just in time for the beginning of the festival. The area hosts a space of 420,000 square feet and is easy to get to from central Munich.
I’ve mentioned in the past that I’ve never been to Oktoberfest in Munich, but I’ve been to Oktoberfest in Frankfurt — Munich is supposedly the largest Oktoberfest in the world, but it’s hard to imagine anything larger than the one I attended in Frankfurt.
All beer served at Oktoberfest is 13.5% Stammwürze, which equates to around 6% alcohol content. The drinking age for beer and wine in Germany is 16. Distilled alcohols, like spirits can be purchased at age 18.
The majority of the 16 to 18 days of Oktoberfest take place in September, not October. The first Oktoberfest was the wedding of the Bavarian Crown Prince in October of 1810. Since the party was so well received, the festival was repeated in the following years and extended — and at some point, brought forward into September. The weather probably played a role in moving the dates — the Munich weather in September is just right for Oktoberfest.
In case you’re planning on going to Oktoberfest in Munich, be sure to bring cash — the tents don’t accept credit cards, and know that it’s ok to dance on the benches, but not on the tables — and steins are ok to buy, but not to steal.
We have an Oktoberfest here in Shepherdstown, at the Bavarian Inn, and I think the same rules apply, except I’m pretty sure you can use a credit card.
— 30 —