Oktoberfest - The Greatest of All Beer Drinking Festivals!
Oktoberfest offers another opportunity in the calendar for a themed costume party.
Originally a Bavarian custom, Oktoberfest has spread across Europe and the Rest of the World and is now celebrated globally.
The origins of the Oktoberfest date back to the marriage of Prince Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810.
All of the residents of Munich were invited to celebrate the marriage in the surrounding fields.
The celebrations lasted five days and ended with a horse race.
The following year the event was repeated but based around an agricultural event.
In these early years the horse racing was the major attraction but the popularity of the event grew and it became ritualized into the calendar.
With this increased popularity came the growth in the drinking culture with the original small beer sellers being replaced by larger beer tents towards the turn of the century.
Oktoberfest today has evolved into the German festival to celebrate the changing of the seasons, although the agricultural show has been retained on a three yearly cycle and it has become a prominent celebration wherever a German community exists.
The globalization of Oktoberfest is in line with the globalization of trade which enables true German produce to be available either in store or easily via the internet.
With the need to drive consumers to these products there has been a reason to export local customs and festivals as well.
Oktoberfest is linked to beer drinking and in major cities huge beer tents are erected to cope with the influx of revelers - around 6 million in recent years.
Although these beer tents serve steins of light beer it is the darker beers that are more traditionally drunk during the closing months of the year.
Production of these darker more full bodied beers was traditionally linked to the period when brewers - most large towns and cities have one or more local brewers producing their own specially prepared brews - would clean out the vats and use the thick brew as a bottled dark beer.
Due to the way that these brews are made, they have a limited availability and strong potency.
Highly prized these are the true beers of Oktoberfest.
The food of Oktoberfest is the traditional bratwurst served either with brot (bread) or Kaiser rolls.
Bratwurst is always served with German mustard and is often accompanied by sauerkraut and/or potato salad.
Within Germany these are not foods restricted to Oktoberfest but are widely enjoyed throughout the year with bratwurst forming the basis of Germany's fast-food industry - although the golden arches are becoming more widespread.
Throughout the remainder of Europe, Oktoberfest is celebrated with special menus in hotels and restaurants and is seen a fitting festival with which to celebrate the natural beauty of the season.
If you want to celebrate Oktoberfest with a costume party there are many outlets for German food including the internet.
Imported beers are available widely and if you find it hard to find bratwurst, then a simple BBQ of sausages will do just as well.
Decoration should be anything related to Autumn/Fall or if you wish to be fully correct then you could look up Munich on the web and see their decoration colours (blue and white chequered flag) and use these.
Paper products make for easy clean-up which will be required following your share of the beer! There's no reason to miss out on the costume fun either as there are plenty of costumes based on the traditional German lederhosen which become increasingly popular during Oktoberfest.
For ladies there are a number of traditional costumes as well as German beer maids or tavern girl costumes.
Use lots of Oktoberfest paper party goods for decoration and quick clean-up after the party ends.
Oktoberfest is a fantastic example of a local festival gone global.
Originally a Bavarian custom, Oktoberfest has spread across Europe and the Rest of the World and is now celebrated globally.
The origins of the Oktoberfest date back to the marriage of Prince Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810.
All of the residents of Munich were invited to celebrate the marriage in the surrounding fields.
The celebrations lasted five days and ended with a horse race.
The following year the event was repeated but based around an agricultural event.
In these early years the horse racing was the major attraction but the popularity of the event grew and it became ritualized into the calendar.
With this increased popularity came the growth in the drinking culture with the original small beer sellers being replaced by larger beer tents towards the turn of the century.
Oktoberfest today has evolved into the German festival to celebrate the changing of the seasons, although the agricultural show has been retained on a three yearly cycle and it has become a prominent celebration wherever a German community exists.
The globalization of Oktoberfest is in line with the globalization of trade which enables true German produce to be available either in store or easily via the internet.
With the need to drive consumers to these products there has been a reason to export local customs and festivals as well.
Oktoberfest is linked to beer drinking and in major cities huge beer tents are erected to cope with the influx of revelers - around 6 million in recent years.
Although these beer tents serve steins of light beer it is the darker beers that are more traditionally drunk during the closing months of the year.
Production of these darker more full bodied beers was traditionally linked to the period when brewers - most large towns and cities have one or more local brewers producing their own specially prepared brews - would clean out the vats and use the thick brew as a bottled dark beer.
Due to the way that these brews are made, they have a limited availability and strong potency.
Highly prized these are the true beers of Oktoberfest.
The food of Oktoberfest is the traditional bratwurst served either with brot (bread) or Kaiser rolls.
Bratwurst is always served with German mustard and is often accompanied by sauerkraut and/or potato salad.
Within Germany these are not foods restricted to Oktoberfest but are widely enjoyed throughout the year with bratwurst forming the basis of Germany's fast-food industry - although the golden arches are becoming more widespread.
Throughout the remainder of Europe, Oktoberfest is celebrated with special menus in hotels and restaurants and is seen a fitting festival with which to celebrate the natural beauty of the season.
If you want to celebrate Oktoberfest with a costume party there are many outlets for German food including the internet.
Imported beers are available widely and if you find it hard to find bratwurst, then a simple BBQ of sausages will do just as well.
Decoration should be anything related to Autumn/Fall or if you wish to be fully correct then you could look up Munich on the web and see their decoration colours (blue and white chequered flag) and use these.
Paper products make for easy clean-up which will be required following your share of the beer! There's no reason to miss out on the costume fun either as there are plenty of costumes based on the traditional German lederhosen which become increasingly popular during Oktoberfest.
For ladies there are a number of traditional costumes as well as German beer maids or tavern girl costumes.
Use lots of Oktoberfest paper party goods for decoration and quick clean-up after the party ends.
Oktoberfest is a fantastic example of a local festival gone global.