I Just Learned Why People Celebrate Oktoberfest, And It's Surprisingly Royal

A waitress at OktoberfestLike a lot of non-Germans, I have a pretty hazy idea of Oktoberfest ― I’m vaguely aware it has something to do with beer and pretzels, and it seems to involve a lot of plaits. But the festival, which is taking place from September 20 to October 5 this year, has a much deeper history than I realised. The event, it turns out, actually started off with a royal wedding, a horse race, some poems, and a fairground. And, the City of Munich Department of Labour and Economic Development (CMDLED) explained, it wasn’t originally called Oktoberfest. Why did Oktoberfest begin?The holiday actually began in Bavaria, a state in the south-east of Germany.Bavaria used to be a sovereign kingdom. Four years after it became a kingdom (in 1810) CMDLED said, Bavaria’s Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The wedding celebrations lasted five days, and took place with a “folk fair” that ended on the 17th of October. To conclude the celebrations, residents of Baravia’s capital, Munich, held a horse race outside of the city’s gates. During the royal wedding celebrations, children, dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes, handed flowers and poems to the newlywed visiting nobles.Per the CMDLED, “In honour of the bride, the fairground was named ‘TheresensWiese’. This is still the name of the Oktoberfest grounds today:“Theresienwiese” – in Munich parlance called the ‘Wiesn’ for short.”The horse race tradition didn’t survive past 1938, though in the southern parts of Germany, the Landwirtschaftsfest, or agricultural fair, is still held every four years.What’s this got to do with beer?Little booths always supplied fair-goers with beer. But it wasn’t until 1986 that “huge beer castles” became normal at the official Munich event.“Soon, hearty light meals and traditional Munich delicacies were also on offer and, over time, the so-called Wirtsbudenstrasse (street of the beer tents) came into being,” the Munich government added.Meanwhile, merry-go-rounds and swings were set up at the Bavarian event as early as 1818.And the city of Munich has created various trademarks surrounding the word “Oktoberfest”, meaning the event ― which is the largest folk festival in the world ― has a special logo and font.Related...The Real Origins Of Halloween Are Wilder Than You'd ThinkI Just Learned Why Parka Hoods Have Fur, And It's More Impressive Than I ThoughtI Just Learned Why Suit Jackets Have Sleeve Buttons, And I Had No Idea

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