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The History of the Oktoberfest

The origins of one of Munich's most important traditions, the Oktoberfest, is the splendorous marriage ceremony of crown prince Ludwig of Bavaria and princess Theresia of Saxonia (Sachsen-Hildburghausen) on 12th October 1810, only four years after Bavaria's elevation to a kingdom. The spouse became later the well-known "rearranger" of Munich, King Ludwig I., and his wife's name was given, to commemorate her, to the fair meadow (which at that time was still outside Munich and ended up as "Theresienwiese", Meadow of Theresia). Today most people in Munich refer to the Oktoberfest as to "Die Wies'n" (the Meadow, expressed in Bavarian dialect) and the fair area is still on the "Theresienwiese", which in the mean time has become one of Munich's squares. Back in those days, people had been celebrating for 5 days in honour of the newly-married couple, enjoying the event that had been declared a national holiday for whole Bavaria and remained it for a long time afterwards. Munich was the stage of the merry happening and all its inhabitants were officially invited to take part to it, leading to the celebration being called a "people's celebration" already at that time. A horse running organized by the upper middle class was the conclusion on 17th October 1810, but as the celebration, particularly the horse running, proved very popular, it was decided to repeat the "Oktober-Feste", the earliest name, the following year. Further attractions were added to the horse running during the first years of the Oktoberfest's history, e.g. the "Agricultural Central Fair" and booths selling meals and drinks, especially beer. After the installation of the statue "Bavaria" in 1850, the next highlight definetly was the introduction of the merry-go-rounds, which quickly attained large popularity in the 1870's. However, the celebration also failed to happen several times in those years for different reasons. In 1880 the first nocturnal visit to the Oktoberfest became possible with the introduction of electricity. The "Maß" (Mug) became he cause of a really hot controversy as the model made of stone was replaced by that of glass in 1892.

Approximately at the beginning of the 20th century, the enormous fair tents replaced the smaller beer-booths. Soon after its 100th anniversary 1910, the Oktoberfest had to take its first obligatory break induced by the First World War; a kind of brake that had to be repeated much too soon as the Second World War enraged. In 1950 Munich's mayor Thomas Wimmer, at that time affectionately called "Wimmerl Dammerl" by its population, introduced the "O'zapft is!"-tradition (It's tapped!), the official tapping of the very first Oktoberfest beer barrel exactly at 12.00 o'clock on the first day of the fair. The same year though, the horse running disappeared from the program.