Beer festival
Among the very many popular holidays (in German Volksfest ), most known is that of Munich ( München ). The festival of the Bière of Munich is called in German the Oktoberfest , i.e. the festival of October. It takes place each year fine September beginning October - it holds its name owing to the fact that it finishes the 1st weekend from October - with Munich on a clean ground which is devoted to him: the Theresienwiese ( the meadow of Therese ). The German call it also the meadow ( die the Wiese , or, in Bavarian die Wiesn ). With six million visitors, it is the greatest popular holiday of the world which starts with a procession of more than eight thousand people carrying the traditional costume of which breeches of skin ( die Lederhosen ) for the men and the puffing out sleeved dress and apron of bright colors ( das Dirndl ) for the women.
Principle
Let there be no misunderstanding, the festival does not consist of a festival of street in the downtown area, where only drunkards and accustomed would come to make orgies. It is a very traditional Bavarian popular holiday and one goes there in family. It is very organized and one takes the Métro normally (the U-Bahn or the S-Bahn ) to go there. It appears unthinkable to come by car.
The beer is sold inside the large tents assembled and decorated for the occasion, like in the contiguous Biergarten. It is been useful in Maß , i.e. tankards of 1 liter and it are often impossible to less order some (unless consuming beer on yeast ( Weißbier or Helles ): 0,5 liter). In the tent, an orchestra interprets traditional songs and Bavarian musics, but one can nowadays hear international tubes of the years 1980. One then sees generally everyone going up on the benches and taking again in chorus these songs. With Maß, one can serve to you as chicken and giant Bretzel (30 cm) for example.
For the occasion, the breweries of Munich produce a special beer a little darker and a little stronger called Märzen bier (in French, “Bière of Mars”).
Apart from the tents, one can buy to eat and have fun with attractions of the fun fair installed at the same place. Large-eight, phantom horse-gears various, trains, Russian mountains, old attractions as well as of the technological very last thing are with go.
History
The first beer festival took place the October 12th 1810. For the public festival in the honor of their marriage, the crown prince Ludwig ( Louis in French), later the king Louis I {{er}} of Bavaria (Ludwig I.) and the princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (who gave her name to the meadow) organized a great horse-race.
The festival was a great success. It was then decided to start again it the following year. The festival of October had been born. Later united with the festival, every 3 years, of the exposures related to the agricultural world.
The statue Bavaria , of Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler and Leo von Klenze, overhangs the meadow since 1850. At this place, a great concert joining together all the instrumental units (the Kapellen ) takes place second Sunday.
Since 1960, the horse-race was abandoned.
Since 1901, the meadow has electricity.
The stands were replaced starting from 1903 by large tents for beer.
In 1950 was introduced the tradition to draw 12 blows from gun for the opening of the festival. The mayor places from there ( Oberbürgermeister ) from Munich must then draw first beer from the year on the meadow with the encouragements of crowd and declare “O' zapft is! ”, meaning that the festival started.
In 1980, following a Attack with the bomb with the main entrance, 13 visitors found death and 200 others were wounded.
The beer festival lasts 16 days complete now and traditionally always finishes 1st Sunday of October. Due to a lengthening of the duration of the festival and because of time rather frisquet in October, the festival of “October” begins since 1872 as of September… Since its creation, the festival was already cancelled 24 times due to cholera, war and other miseries.
The beer festival of Munich made the small ones and one finds from now on festivals equivalent in other countries: the other most important beer festival takes place each year with Kitchener, Ontario (Canada). With the the United States also, comparable festivals are organized in many places. One finds some even with the Brésil where most famous with Blumenau (in the State of Santa Catarina) attracts 600.000 visitors.
Some remarkable figures and facts
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30% of the annual production of the large breweries of Munich is consumed during the 2 weeks of the festival.
- 12.000 people work with the beer festival, including 1.600 waitresses and waiters able to carry up to 12 Maß (to pronounce Mass) of a blow.
- 1.440 toilets are placed at the disposal on the meadow.
- 100.000 sitted places are available.
- In 2002, 5 million liters of beer were sold by the 6 official breweries of the beer festival: Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu and Löwenbräu.
- In 2003, 6,3 million visitors consumed 6 million liters of beers.
- In 2007, a new record of sale was beaten: on the whole, they are 6,7 million liters of beer which were consumed during Oktoberfest.
Dates planned for the next beer festivals
External bonds
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the official site of the beer festival
- Oktoberfest Italian Website
- video Report - Beer festival 2006 in Munich - LTV Local Television
Simple: Oktoberfest
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