Imported Lagers

Under the typical white and blue Bavarian sky on Monday morning, the authorities launched the 200-year-old Oktoberfest, one of the most popular beer festivals in the world, immersing the city in an atmosphere of excitement.

On Sonnenstrasse, one of the main streets in Munich close to the entrance of the Oktoberfest, “the Muenchner Kindl”, symbol of the city, led the opening parade.

Along with a brass band, the procession consisted of six horse-drawn carriages of breweries, traditionally decorated floats, as well as honorable figures dressed in traditional costumes, riding coaches, waving and throwing flowers to the spectators.

All windows of the houses along the parade line were open. People wore smiles and looked excited as the parade passed by.

“It’s a peaceful demonstration. This is why I like to join the Oktoberfest,” said Horst Meier, a 50-year old local manager.

“What we need more than ever in this world is peace. Watch out: Just everywhere you look around there are people gathering from all over the world, enjoying themselves, communicating with each other. This festival brings the nations together.”

At noon when the parade ended, Munich Mayor Christian Ude came to a tent, holding a wooden hammer to open the first beer barrel and shouting “Ozapft is”, a Bavarian dialect which means “the barrel is tapped”. Then riflemen fired 12 rounds of shots to announce the opening of the Oktoberfest.

The festival is organized by Munich. However, the first glass of beer was offered to the Bavarian State’s Prime Minister Horst Seehofer to show respect for the state government.

In the afternoon, a lot of people, mainly young men, were seen walking around, with some looking really drunken and lying on the lawn near the Bavaria statue.

Besides tasty beer, modern music and colorful traditional Bavarian clothes added to the attraction of the festival.

There are 14 huge tents for drinking beer this year. Inside the tents people stood on benches, danced and shouted with the music of brass bands.

The organizers chose modern music to cater to young people, who made up the bulk of visitors, making the traditional festival become “younger” and more and more popular among the younger generation.

On the streets, many young people were seen wearing traditional dresses. It is fashionable to visit the Oktoberfest in these dresses and there were a plenty of shops that sold a big variety of fancy dresses.

On the second day of the festival, there will be a “Costume and Riflemen’s Parade,” in which more than 7,000 people from the whole Bavarian area will show their traditional costumes, accompanied by local brass bands and drummers.

The Oktoberfest was first held to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig I 200 years ago. The real event that made the Oktoberfest a really popular festival was the idea of performing a horse racing in honor of the royal family on Oct.17, 1810 on a meadow in Sendling.

The locals in Munich fondly refer to the Oktoberfest as “die Wiesn” because of its location, Theresienwiese. In this year’s festival, people can enjoy a horse racing performed twice a day on the “Wiesn”.

People who are interested in the history of the Oktoberfest also have a good place to visit this time as the Munich city museum runs an impressive exhibition.

Visitors from all over the world were seen at the festival, which has become a major international event. To some, the festival lends support to the saying “What’s national is also international.”