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Bavarian traditions:
Main image: The Oktoberfest at night. Photo: © Nagy/ Presseamt Muenchen From left: Munich’s mayor doing the ‘Bieranstich’. Photo: © Nagy/ Presseamt Muenchen Kirchweih in Schwabach. Photo: © Wikimedia Commons/ Wolfgang Sauber Children eating cotton candy. Photo: © Leonie Liebich
More than dirndl, lederhosen and beer ‘O’zapft is!’; this exclamation brings certain images to one’s mind: German people drinking a great deal of beer in huge glasses while wearing lederhosen or Dirndl and having – unlike the usual stereotypes – a pretty good time. But did you know that all this fun is a very long tradition and has its roots in a marriage and religious celebration from the Middle Ages? Since the world’s most famous fair, the Oktoberfest in Munich, begins this month, Discover Germany provides you with some cultural background information of southern Germany’s best traditions and customs. TEXT: MONIQUE AMEND
Our little cultural journey starts in the south-eastern part of Germany, the federal state of Bavaria, more precisely in Munich. The city is home to the original Oktoberfest and hosts the big fair every year at the end of September and beginning of October for two weeks. The very first time 34 | Issue 42 | September 2016
this fair was held was in October 1810. Back then, Bavaria was an independent kingdom trying to find an adequate way to celebrate the wedding of the crown prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The celebrations lasted for five days and ended with a
horserace at the same place where the Oktoberfest takes place until today. The officials decided to organise the festivities as down-to-earth as possible and let the public take part in it to strengthen the people’s identity with the kingdom and the dynasty. Since it was such a big success, the fair was held year after year and kept on growing. More tents, booths and amusement rides joined the fair at the ‘Theresienwiese’, named after the former bride Princess Therese. Today, around six million visitors come to Munich every year and about 7.5 million litres of beer are consumed during the Octoberfest. Although the celebration becomes more and more