Munich Oktoberfest - the most popular beer festival on the planet - celebrated its bicentennial in 2010. Annually about 6 million beer fans from around the world gather at Oktoberfest to taste special festival beer from the best breweries in the city, which are produced only at this time of the year. This beer is brewed in accordance with the Munich law on the purity of beer 1487 (!) Year, and the alcohol content in it does not exceed 6, 3%.
For the first time the Oktoberfest was held in honor of the marriage of the Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese, in honor of which the meadow where the feast is celebrated is named. For two hundred years, the holiday was canceled only a few times and only for very good reasons: because of the epidemic of cholera, the Prussian-Austrian and Franco-Prussian war, the First and Second World War and hyperinflation in Germany in 1923-1924
Traditionally, the festival begins with a procession of tent hosts .Headed by the Oberbürgermeister of Munich, the procession on festive sleds with the beer barrels set up on them and accompanied by orchestras passes through the center of the city and ends in the meadow of Theresa .Exactly at noon, 12 shots are released into the sky from the cannon and in the tent Schottenhamel-Festzelt the acting chief burgomaster of Munich knocks out the gag from the first barrel - Oktoberfest is open! This tradition appeared in 1950 .The next day, on the first Sunday of the holiday (the festival itself always starts on Saturday), about 8,000 dressed up in historical and national costumes, along with orchestras and decorated sleds, pass from the building of the Bavarian parliament to the meadow of Therese..The procession has also been held since 1950 and became an integral part of the festival .
The holiday lasts a little more than two weeks, for this time on Terezin Meadow in the center of Munich are built 14 large (with a capacity of 10,000 people) and 15 small beer tents (per 1000 people).Inside of them, life rages: delicate waitresses are spread around 12 liters of beer at a time, guests of the festival are eating fried chicken and pork sausages for both cheeks, beer is flowing with the river, music is rattling, music bands are performing, and noisy, cheerful crowd minute .Often at one table, then someone else gets up and under the applause of those around them in one fell swoop drinks a liter of beer .Sometimes men compete with each other at the rate of emptying mugs with a foamy drink .
There are a lot of entertainments at the festival and except for beer..Carousels, a breathtaking roller coaster, a 50-meter ferris wheel, a freefall simulation tower..It makes sense sometimes to get distracted from the tasting and just stroll, choose souvenirs, make new acquaintances, ride one of the attractions or even look at the flea circus .And otherwise the chance is great, having drunk too much, to get into the caring hands of doctors and orderly volunteers serving the festival .In German there is even a special name for ignorant measures: Bierleichen - beer corpse .
For a long time, the Oktoberfest was a local holiday, for residents of Bavaria and the nearest regions of Germany .And since 1960, tourists have come to the festival from different parts of the globe .Today, this staggering festival took its rightful place among the best spots on the planet for event-driven tourism..Oktoberfest is an excellent occasion to go to Germany, to get acquainted with the hospitality of the good-natured Bavarians, to find out, at last, how many mugs of real German beer you can drink in the evening and manage to get to the hotel, and just have fun in a good, international and sooo large company!
Oktoberfest Dates
In 2011, the festival will be held from September 17 to October 3, in 2012 - from September 22 to October 7. Do not forget to bring with you to your homeland a huge pretzel, a German Bretzel, - another traditional snack for beer in Bavaria.
Author - Gulshat Zakirova
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