Munich Oktoberfest

Though Oktoberfest is celebrated all over the world now (like Chicago Oktoberfest), the origin of Oktoberfest was Munich in the Bavaria State of Germany.

Image: Wikipedia

Munich Oktoberfest was first conducted in the year 1810 on October 12. It was just a celebration of the marriage event of the Crown Prince Ludwig I with Princess Therese, which happened few days before. The main event happened was “Horse Races”. Since that event was a great success, which brought so many people together, sharing happiness, it continued in the later years also, with lots of competitions, carnivals and stage shows with prizes distributed in the form of Silver and Jewels.

Though this festival got cancelled several times in between, due to war and the cholera epidemic broke out, it came back again by the end of 19th century. The 100th year celebration happened in 1910 with 1,20,000 liters of beer being distributed.

Image: Wikipedia

The main traditional foods eaten in this fest are Schweinsbraten (Roasted Pork) along with Knödel (Potato or Bread Dumplings). The few other dominating food items are Schweinshaxe, Steckerlfish (Grilled fish), Hendl (Chicken), Blaukraut (Red Cabbage) with Cheese noodles. The beer containers will be found all over the street, with people cheering each others.

Oktoberfest is celebrated for 16 to 18 days, from the end of September to the first week of October. The celebration evolved to the modern ways, like it starts with the Mayor tapping the Beer container first and serving it to the Minister-President of the State of Bavaria.

This year is the 200th Jubilee year of Oktoberfest and it happens between September 18th to October 4th. So, “Happy Oktoberfest To All Of You”.