Oktoberfest -
All about the world's biggest beer festival
Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, is held annually in Munich, Germany. The 16-day party attracts over 6 million people every year who consume 1.5 million gallons of beer, 200,000 pairs of pork sausage, and 480,000 spit-roasted chickens during the two-week extravaganza. While the event reinforces stereotypical images of beer-loving, meat-loving Germans dressed in dirndls and lederhosen, visitors to the annual event come from all over the world. Oktoberfest is in fact one of Munich's largest and most profitable tourist attractions. It brings over 450 million euros to the city's coffers each year. The folk festival has given its name to similar festivals worldwide that are at least in part modeled after the original Bavarian Oktoberfest. The largest Oktoberfest held outside of Germany takes place each year in the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo in Canada, where a large ethnic German population resides. The largest such event in the United States is Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati in Ohio, which boasts half a million visitors each year.
History of Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the October 12th marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to the Saxon-Hildburghausen Princess Therese. The citizens of Munich were invited to join in the festivities which were held over five days on the fields in front of the city gates. The main event of the original Oktoberfest was a horse race.
Oktoberfest events
O'zapft is!
Since its origins in 1810, the Oktoberfest has changed substantially. The horse races were last held in 1960, and the agricultural show is put on only every four years. The event still takes place on the "Theresienwiese" ("Theresa's meadow"), which was named after the new bride; to the locals, it's simply known as "Wies'n". During the two weeks before the first Sunday in October, these fairgrounds are transformed into a city of beer tents, amusements, rides, performers, and booths of vendors peddling gastronomic delights and traditional confections. The mayor of Munich opens the festivities at noon on the first day of the fair when he drives the wooden tap into a barrel of beer and proclaims O'zapft is! ("It's tapped!").
Oktoberfest beer
Oktoberfest beer is of a variety called
Oktoberfest food
Hendl
Visitors consume large quantities of food, most of which consists of traditional hearty fare. Readily available all over the fairgrounds are Hendl, whole chickens grilled on a spit and typically sold in halves. Variations are the spit-roasted duck or goose. Roasted meats, especially pork, and potato dumplings are served up with the traditional red cabbage and apple dish (Blaukohl). Local specialties such as roasted ox tails, grilled pork knuckles, or Bavarian Weißwürste, steamed white veal sausages served with sweet mustard, sauerkraut, and a pretzel or bread roll are found on just about every menu. Visitors hankering for some seafood might try the charcoal-fired fish-on-a-stick (Steckerlfisch).
Smaller appetites are satisfied by potato salad or potato soup, and even vegetarians won't go hungry, feasting on massive warm, soft pretzels, cheese plates with bread, or one of the many meatless dishes served up in each of the tents. Typical dessert dishes include Dampfnudel, a steamed honey-dumpling served with vanilla sauce, apple strudel, and Kaiserschmarrn, a sugared pancake with raisins.
Concessions peddling a variety of sweet snacks are also scattered across the landscape. From pan-roasted, sugar-glazed almonds (gebrannte Mandeln) to cotton candy (Zuckerwatte), from glazed fruits to ice cream, Munich's Oktoberfest has something to satisfy every sweet tooth. The decorated gingerbread hearts with slogans and phrases iced onto them might be more of a feast for the eyes than the stomach.
Oktoberfest music
Marching brass band in the
opening processional
Oktoberfest is known as much for its traditional folk music as it is for its beer drinking. Popular and folk music, marches, and polkas make up the oompah music Germany is stereotypically famous for around the world. As the evening wears on, the music becomes louder and more and more people begin to sing, linking arms and swinging beer mugs from side to side, some standing and swaying and dancing on benches or tables. Before each break, the band will offer up "ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit", a toast to contentment, congeniality, and relaxation.
German folk music is not the only sound you will hear emanating from the massive beer tents. International hits like "New York, New York", "Country Road", "YMCA" and even disco- and rock-inspired tunes emanate from the beer tents. Still, you won't have to look far to find a brass band pumping out a German drinking song: Eins … zwei … g'suffa! Prost!
Oktoberfest 2009 ended on October 4 at 11:30 pm.
Oktoberfest 2010 will take place from September 18 to October 3. The wait begins ...
Eins, Zwei, Drei, g'suffa
(With Beer stein/glass in hand)
(With Beer stein/glass in hand)
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit
(Cheer!) Eins, zwei, Drei g'suffa!
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Prosit
