No, its not a spelling mistake! The germans spell October with a 'k'. The world famous 'Beer' Festival is celebrated during different weeks of September and October in different parts of Germany and other countries.
The first Oktoberfest was hosted by King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria (now a state in southern Germany) to honor the marriage of his son, Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen on Oct. 12, 1810. After the wedding, a lavish public celebration was held outside Munich. The party went on for over five days and since all the participants had a good time, they just decided to have a celebration every year thereafter and it became a tradition in Germany!
Having landed in Germany 'at the right time', my University had organized a visit to Munich to attend the 200th Oktoberfest. It is most famous, as it all started there. However I was skeptical as to how much fun it will be for me being a non-drinker! I had earlier seen videos of the celebration over the internet and had an impression that its all about gulping down endless mugs of that horrible smelling liquid!!! (I am expecting at least one death-threat from the drinking community for saying this! ;-D) However our excursion was to change my opinion.
Before I go on, let me mention that beer is very important to Germany, both financially and socially. Financially because in large parts of Southern Germany Beer, Wine and Sekt (german equivalent of Champagne) industries have been playing an important role in the economy for ages. Socially beer is an important bonding agent between the people. The german word 'Gemütlichkeit' with a poor english translation of 'sociability', is often associated with the fellowship between people over a mug of beer!
We could feel the pulse of the Fest already in the U-Bahn (local train) on the way there. People from all over Germany, if not all over Europe seemed to have arrived in Munich and were herding into the already full compartments at each subsequent stop. Such crowds are unusual during ones everyday travel in Germany. But today the people, mostly clad in traditional german outfits - men in white shirts, short funny pants with suspenders and long hats, women in low neck tops and long skirts didn't seem to mind the crowd and the pushing! Being accustomed to the ever full buses in Bangalore, this was just another day at the office for me! There were cops stationed at each station to control and manage the waves of visitors arriving and leaving at the stations. We finally managed to be carried with the wave of people to the Fest.
As it turned out, there is a lot more to the Beer Fest than just the beer! The numerous joy rides range from the pleasing 'merry-go-round' kinds to the scary 'not for the weak hearted' kinds!!! ;-D There were also the 'win something' sort of game parlors like the throwing the ring, shooting the target and so on. Also worth a mention, a wide variety of food ranging from the sausages to grilled meat to cotton candy. The part that I enjoyed the most was the crowd of visitors, which reminded me of the processions we have in India during festivals. The only difference was the smell of the holy water in the mugs they were carrying!!! ;o) However the experience I really missed there, was a chance to enter one of the huge 'Tents' where one might say - the real fest was taking place! Having landed on a Saturday, all hope was shattered by the already huge crowds, attempting futilely to barge in past the huge bouncers at the doors!
But I had this opportunity at the Volksfest in Bad Canstatt, Stuttgart a few weeks later. Like I told you earlier, Oktoberfest is also celebrated in other parts of Germany. On the evening of a weekday, the crowd was not as huge and we easily managed to get onto a few rides and most importantly into many of the 'Tents'. Breaking the suspense, a 'Tent' is the huge warehouse kind of a wooden structure where ravellers are served unlimited beer in huge 1 litre mugs (of course at a HUGE COST!!!). If that doesn't get your spirits high enough, there is loud music played by the 'band of the day' at offer! The menu also reads grilled beef and pork! You typically find groups of friends and family sitting, standing and dancing on the large wooden benches, humming with the lead singer and downing the last gulp of beer, before ordering one more from the very busy waiters!
The germans really know how to celebrate!!! And if you want to join them, no better chance than the OKTOBERFEST!
The first Oktoberfest was hosted by King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria (now a state in southern Germany) to honor the marriage of his son, Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen on Oct. 12, 1810. After the wedding, a lavish public celebration was held outside Munich. The party went on for over five days and since all the participants had a good time, they just decided to have a celebration every year thereafter and it became a tradition in Germany!
Having landed in Germany 'at the right time', my University had organized a visit to Munich to attend the 200th Oktoberfest. It is most famous, as it all started there. However I was skeptical as to how much fun it will be for me being a non-drinker! I had earlier seen videos of the celebration over the internet and had an impression that its all about gulping down endless mugs of that horrible smelling liquid!!! (I am expecting at least one death-threat from the drinking community for saying this! ;-D) However our excursion was to change my opinion.
Before I go on, let me mention that beer is very important to Germany, both financially and socially. Financially because in large parts of Southern Germany Beer, Wine and Sekt (german equivalent of Champagne) industries have been playing an important role in the economy for ages. Socially beer is an important bonding agent between the people. The german word 'Gemütlichkeit' with a poor english translation of 'sociability', is often associated with the fellowship between people over a mug of beer!
We could feel the pulse of the Fest already in the U-Bahn (local train) on the way there. People from all over Germany, if not all over Europe seemed to have arrived in Munich and were herding into the already full compartments at each subsequent stop. Such crowds are unusual during ones everyday travel in Germany. But today the people, mostly clad in traditional german outfits - men in white shirts, short funny pants with suspenders and long hats, women in low neck tops and long skirts didn't seem to mind the crowd and the pushing! Being accustomed to the ever full buses in Bangalore, this was just another day at the office for me! There were cops stationed at each station to control and manage the waves of visitors arriving and leaving at the stations. We finally managed to be carried with the wave of people to the Fest.
As it turned out, there is a lot more to the Beer Fest than just the beer! The numerous joy rides range from the pleasing 'merry-go-round' kinds to the scary 'not for the weak hearted' kinds!!! ;-D There were also the 'win something' sort of game parlors like the throwing the ring, shooting the target and so on. Also worth a mention, a wide variety of food ranging from the sausages to grilled meat to cotton candy. The part that I enjoyed the most was the crowd of visitors, which reminded me of the processions we have in India during festivals. The only difference was the smell of the holy water in the mugs they were carrying!!! ;o) However the experience I really missed there, was a chance to enter one of the huge 'Tents' where one might say - the real fest was taking place! Having landed on a Saturday, all hope was shattered by the already huge crowds, attempting futilely to barge in past the huge bouncers at the doors!
But I had this opportunity at the Volksfest in Bad Canstatt, Stuttgart a few weeks later. Like I told you earlier, Oktoberfest is also celebrated in other parts of Germany. On the evening of a weekday, the crowd was not as huge and we easily managed to get onto a few rides and most importantly into many of the 'Tents'. Breaking the suspense, a 'Tent' is the huge warehouse kind of a wooden structure where ravellers are served unlimited beer in huge 1 litre mugs (of course at a HUGE COST!!!). If that doesn't get your spirits high enough, there is loud music played by the 'band of the day' at offer! The menu also reads grilled beef and pork! You typically find groups of friends and family sitting, standing and dancing on the large wooden benches, humming with the lead singer and downing the last gulp of beer, before ordering one more from the very busy waiters!
The germans really know how to celebrate!!! And if you want to join them, no better chance than the OKTOBERFEST!
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