Millions of people attend the biggest popular festival in the world, where the pot is up 15% from 2019
After two years of “drought” due to the coronavirus pandemic, beer will be flowing again from this Saturday in the “Wiesn”, the meadows on the outskirts of the Bavarian capital, where the largest folk festival in the world is celebrated. With German punctuality, the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, gave the formal hammer blow on the tap of the 200-litre wooden barrel at noon to inaugurate the “Oktoberfest”, the traditional beer festival, while thousands of impatient attendees waited to enjoy the first liter of jugs, the Bavarian cane. The authorities of the city, with more than a million inhabitants, hope to meet the visitor numbers of the last edition. In 2019, more than 6 million people flocked to the festival site to enjoy the rides and taste the fermented barley juice that the legendary King Gambrinus supposedly invented.
Despite the fact that under the tents of the breweries the attendees will be in the thousands and the human crowd in the room will be overwhelming, there is no rule to prevent Covid-19 infections. Keeping a safe distance is impossible and the use of masks is of little use if you do nothing but drink and indulge in the popular songs played by the orchestras. Oktoberfest boss Clemens Baumgärtner has advised weak people to avoid the party. Anyone who doesn’t feel healthy or belongs to vulnerable groups should not go, Baumgärtner said. We will have to see how the public reacts when families come with their elderly. Months ago, the mayor ordered the city government to “organize the Oktoberfest 2022 without conditions or restrictions”. And the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, has already announced that he will attend “maskless”.
About 600 police officers provide security at the compound in a temporary police station set up for the occasion. There are controls at the entrances and it is forbidden to bring large bags or backpacks to the party. No one forgets the devastating neo-Nazi attack in 1980 in which a bomb killed 12 innocents and injured more than 200 people. Despite the strong police presence, criminals are not lacking. In 2019, officers arrested more than 130 pickpockets. The Red Cross is also doing a great job with hundreds of volunteers and a field hospital, mainly to care for hundreds, if not thousands, of drunks every day, but also to help those injured in minor accidents, from cuts to blows and the odd fracture caused by accidental injuries. fall.
Prices have also risen sharply, almost 15% compared to the last batch three years ago. The “Mass”, the one-litre jug, is served in this edition for between 12.60 and 13.80 euros, according to the brewery. Helles, a blond beer, is usually offered and there are no smaller sizes than that of the huge container, which is about two kilos between liquid and glass. In 2019, more than 7.5 million liters were sold. Oktoberfest beer is produced especially for the occasion and has a higher than normal alcohol percentage of 5.8% to 6.4%. Political attempts to limit the price of beer have consistently failed in the past. To eat there is no shortage of roast chickens, hundreds of thousands of which pass through the kitchens, white veal sausages heated in water and “brezel”, salted fried bread loops. Also, more than 120 oxen are slaughtered and roasted in their entirety. New this year are vegan white sausages for those who want to avoid meat in their diet.
Suspended only because of war or epidemics, the 187th edition of Oktoberfest lasts until October 3, and its origins weren’t exactly popular. The first celebration on the Theresienwiese, Theresa’s Meadow, was the wedding of the then Crown Prince and later King Ludwig I of Bavaria to Princess Theresa of Saxe-Hildburghausen. At the end of a horse race, beer was served to the guests. And it is precisely the beer that is currently the only remnant of that celebration. A party that is now a huge business for the Bavarian capital. The last edition of the Oktoberfest amounted to more than 1,200 million euros. Those who benefited the most at the time were the city’s hotels, which were overcrowded on these dates and brought in more than EUR 505 million, while visitors to the attractions and breweries of the fairgrounds spent more than EUR 440 million.
It is not compulsory to dress in the Bavarian style, but those who go to the “Wiesn” will notice that many wear the typical regional costume of the Alps, Bavaria and Austria. Men with short or below-the-knee leather pants, suspenders, checked shirt, long socks and “haferl”, leather shoes with thick soles, closed and with buckles or laces on the side, as well as a collarless jacket similar to Basque kaiku. And the women with their “dirndl”, the traditional floral dress, adjusted with ribbons on the chest, as well as an apron and white blouse. The bow that women wear at the waist betrays their status. If you are bound on the left, single and noncommittal. If it’s on the right, married or engaged. They are not cheap clothes and the exclusive models reach high prices, but regional suits are sold in bulk in specialized shops and department stores, an offer that tourists take advantage of to dress in tone.
Source: La Verdad
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