The Oktoberfest is the German holiday known throughout the world but few know what the origin of its festivity is, or that it is a tradition that has been alive for more than 200 years. Today we discover all these curiosities and mysteries, at the same time that we tell you when it is celebrated in case you want to experience it in Munich.
When is Oktoberfest 2022
The first thing I have to tell you is that, despite the fact that beer is one of the most important elements and that it has made Oktoberfest so famous, the reality is that this event is much more. Is about one of the biggest folk festivals in Germanyspecifically from Bavaria.
It will be held from September 18 to October 3.
Origin and history of the Oktoberfest
The true origin of Oktoberfest has to do with a wedding! We have to move to the year 1810at which time the prince regent Ludwig of Bavaria was to marry Princess Theresa of Saxe-Hildburghausen (Later, it would be King Ludwig I of Bavaria). They say that they wanted to celebrate a wedding in which the people also participated in the fields that were in front of the fortress, which received the name -later- of Theresienwiese in honor of the princess and that this will sound familiar to you if you finally go to Oktobertfest , was shortened to Wies’n.
It is also said that a civil servant, Andreas Michael Dall’Armi, a member of the Bavarian National Guard, had the idea of holding a horse race to honor the marriage and told the proposal to King Max I Joseph of Bavaria, who would be delighted with the idea as soon as he heard it. Finally, they were married on October 12 and the festivities took place on the 17th of the same month, on the Theresienwiese land, with the horse race taking place as planned. The success was enormous, so much so that Andreas Michael Dall’Armi received the first gold medal in the city for creating the Oktoberfest, a street in the Neuhausen-Nymphenburg neighborhood bears his name and he is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof cemetery.
In the year 1811, with the idea of promoting agriculture and the economy, in addition to having a reason for festivity that would allow continuing with the previous celebration, the first agricultural fair promoted by the Landwirtschaftlicher Verein in Bayern (the Bavarian agricultural association). It was a success that, I tell you, continues to this day, combining with Oktoberfest and held every four years.
In 1813, when Oktoberfest was already established in the lives of its inhabitants as one more party, the event had to be canceled due to the war against Napoleon.
After this episode, the Oktoberfest came back to life through private financing but, a curious fact, later it was the citizens in 1819 they made the event a priority in the city since it attracted a lot of people, generating a good and much needed amount of income. This ended up strengthening the festival in those years and it began to be celebrated annually again.
In the year 1850 the bavarian statue, which is still considered the guardian of Oktoberfest today. Great difficulties for its citizens followed, with more war and the arrival of cholera, yet the festive spirit for this celebration did not wane. That said, it would not be until a few decades later that the Oktoberfest festival as we know it today would be established. For example, some specific data, in 1881 the first food stall traditional chicken and roast chicken, a dish that is still served today.
A short time later the attractions that continue today appeared, such as the booths and carousels Well, electric lighting arrived. More artists also began to arrive and musicians to the place, just as huge tents of beer to comfortably accommodate visitors. In those times, the demand was already very high and the event was a festivity that no one wanted to miss.
More specific data that will make you build a more complete picture of the development of this festival: In 1910, 12,000 hectoliters of beer were poured into the Pschorr-Bräurosl. It was in 1950 that Thomas Wimmer (the mayor of Munich) first opened the first barrel in the Schottenhamel store with the words «O’zapft is» and, let you know, that exactly this is what is repeated year after year to inaugurate the Oktoberfest.
In 1980 An attack took place at the main entrance of Oktoberfest, killing 13 people, including the assailant, and injuring 200 more. It is remembered as one of the worst attacks suffered in Germany.
In 2010, to commemorate the 200th anniversary, along with the Oktoberfest that we know, a more traditional and historic Oktoberfest was also celebrated, therefore less noisy, where horse races, cultural activities, among others, were held. The call was so successfulHey Wiesn» which is held every year except one in four, to celebrate the agricultural fair that we mentioned at the beginning.
Today, the success of this festival is overwhelming. It is the largest folk festival in the world, with six million people attending each year. Also, they keep breaking records year after yearboth in the amount of beer that is drunk and in the amount of chicken that is sold.
Continue reading this article about another of the great festivities that has gone around the world: