What is this Oktoberfest thing, anyways?

The event we had been hearing about since we moved to Munich (ok, well before we moved) is here – OKTOBERFEST (or die Wies’n as the locals call it – after the fairgrounds Theresienwiese).  And since we came over thinking this was a big party all over Germany, and got some disdainful looks for it, I will post some background on Oktoberfest for those that find this interesting (I’m looking at you mom!).

Back in 1810, there was this massive wedding in Bavaria, where the future King Ludwig the 1^st married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.  Because Ludwig was such an awesome Crown Prince, he invited the entire town of Munich to party in front of the town’s gates…. at Theresienwiese. Only it wasn’t called that then, since it was named after the Bride later on.  Anyways, the big hit of the party was the horse races. 

The next year (1811), they decide to repeat the horse races, because who doesn’t love that??  The Agricultural Show was also added, probably to help increase the lovely smell of horses with the lovely smell of livestock.  I might be wrong.  And what do you know – the next year they repeat it, and the next, and the next, until eventually this morphs into the giant Oktoberfest we know today – though no more horse races.  The Agricultural Show, however, does make its appearance every 3 years – 2012 being one of them.  But it looked like it cost money to go into it, so we passed. 

As for the beer tents – the early years they were simply beer stands.  Each year more popped up, because they were so popular.  It wasn’t until 1896 that some rich folks (with the backing of the Munich breweries) set up the first beer tents. 

So why the “Oktober” in Oktoberfest?  The festival starts on a Saturday and ends 2 weeks later on a Sunday – where the last Sunday has to fall on the first Sunday in October.  Confusing enough?  It gets worse – if the first Sunday in October (the last Sunday of the festival) falls before October 3^rd – German Reunification Day – the festival actually lasts a day or two longer and ends on October 3^rd.

In sum – Munich is the ONLY city in Germany that celebrates Oktoberfest, because this is the only place that hosted the Ludwig-Therese wedding back in the 1800s.  And it goes 2 weeks, starting in September, ending in October.  And it is more than just beer – there is basically a mini State Fair that spans the fairgrounds, with rides and fair-food (German-style, so no funnel cake) and even a Flea Circus. 

So next time you hit up your local US-city’s “Oktoberfest”, now you know how wrong it is!  But who cares – the spirit of getting together and drinking and having fun is universal, even if us Americans stole the name from Munich.  Especially when I am sure there have been a fair amount of Bavarians that settled in America over the past 2 centuries.