Oktoberfest: A Celebration 200 Years in the Making
Join us on 2 special departures: September 17 & 24
Sixteen days of festivities, food, and drink … a parade complete with traditional music and costume … and an invitation issued to every citizen in an entire city. Now that’s a wedding celebration. Such revelry was found in 1810 at the betrothing of Prince Ludwig—later to become King Ludwig I—and Princess Therese of Bavaria. The large-scale event—which ended with a round of horse races before the Royal Family—was held in Munich, Germany, on the sprawling fields leading to the city gates.
But the party didn’t end in 1810. In fact, an annual tradition of good cheer and celebration is going strong 200 years later—in Munich and in other cities around the world. Today, it’s known simply as Oktoberfest.
When you reserve one of two special 2012 departures of The Great Rivers of Europe—September 17 & 24—you’ll enjoy an included tour of Munich and then embark on an orientation walk at the Oktoberfest festivities, followed by lunch and free time to explore on your own.
The word “Oktoberfest” conjures up images of beer steins and giant pretzels—and the festival offers plenty of both, to be sure—but the Bavarian event also boasts a rich and storied history. In the early years of Oktoberfest, local agriculture shared equal billing with beer and food, with stalls displaying Bavarian produce and livestock. Shortly after, carnival booths opened, and winners of various games were presented with prizes like porcelain and silver. Horse racing continued at the festival until 1960, and the wedding march parade continues to live on. Throughout the history of Oktoberfest, festivities have been cancelled several times—due to war, disease outbreaks, and even inflation—but the event has always returned, bigger and better than before.
At its core, Oktoberfest remains a celebration of local Bavarian pride. Only beer brewed within Munich’s city limits can qualify as an official Oktoberfest beer for consumption at the festival. Where modest stalls once sat, more than a dozen enormous tents now stand proudly, representing the different breweries. Each tent—cloaked in its brewery’s colors—provides enough shelter for a four-piece oompah (German folk music) band, hundreds of wooden booths, and thousands of guests, many dressed in traditional lederhosen pants and dirndl dresses. Munich residents sit alongside foreign visitors, and together, the revelers raise their glasses and exclaim “Prost!,” making eye contact with each other while clinking glasses, as is the local custom. As the band plays on, the crowd begins to sing along, and rosy-cheeked barmaids swoop by to deliver another round, carrying as many as six or eight of the hefty one-liter steins at once.
Outside the tents, vendors sell traditional and tasty snacks like schweinshaxe (pork knuckles), hendl (chicken), schweinebraten (roast pork), and steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick). Carnival rides dot the grounds, and as merry days give way to jubilant nights, the festival is bathed in an array of colorful lights.
Oktoberfest today is known as the largest public festival in the world, with millions of visitors flocking to Munich for the occasion. The event is held each year for 16 to 18 days, beginning in mid-September—when the Mayor of Munich taps the first keg—and ending on the first Sunday of October. It’s still celebrated on those very fields where the royal couple wed in 1810—fields named Theresienweise after the bride herself.