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Oktoberfest!

Enjoying This Traditional German Celebration

By Julia Rosien

People have a wonderful ability to celebrate ethnic holidays as if they were their own. Not Irish? Doesn't matter. St. Patrick's Day is a great excuse to look for that elusive four-leaf clover and drink green beer. Not German? Doesn't matter either. Grab a plate of sauerkraut, hike up that dirndl (skirt) or those lederhosen (shorts), and join in a polka.

Oktoberfest began almost 200 years ago, and it weaves together a king, his bride and too much leftover beer. Long, long ago in a far away land known as Bavaria, a Crown Prince – who later became King Ludwig I – married the beautiful Princess Therese von Sachesen-Hildenburghausen (try and say that three times fast). The loyal soldiers in the Prince's National Guard suggested horse races to celebrate the happy event. King Max, proud father of the Prince, gave his consent to the races as a finale of five days of wedding festivities on October 17, 1810. Thus began Oktoberfest.

Some savvy Bavarians figured they were onto a good thing and repeated the festival each year after that. The horse races, combined with an agricultural state fair, became an annual event. It wasn't until 1818 that booths serving food and drink were set up at the event. In the late 1800s the booths had grown into large beer halls or tents, which are still set up each year on the Theresienwiese named in honor of Ludwig's bride.

Today, a large midway and fair accompany Oktoberfest in Munich – the largest celebration of its kind in the world. The festival extends for two weeks and ends on the first Sunday of October; only wars and cholera epidemics have interrupted it.

The best place to begin with any celebration is the food. Who can forget Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music singing, "These are a few of my favorite things – crisp apfelstrudel and schnitzel

Want to see more?

• The Pumpkin Patch: Tips for Roasting and Using These Orange Gems
• Family Cookbooks: Preserve Those Treasured Recipes
• Check out our Article Library.
• Seeing the World, One Dish at a Time: Ethnic Foods and Adventurous Grandchildren Are a Good Mix
• Talk about it!

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