Octoberfest

Oktoberfest is a folk festival that takes place in Munich at the beginning of October. It first appeared in 1810 on the occasion of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese wedding. The field where the festivities happened was later named after the bride and set as the traditional location for the holiday. Since that Oktoberfest has been celebrated annually.

Modern festivities 🍗

Today's tradition is related to drinking beer 🍻. All Munich's brewers make stronger sorts from 5,8% to 6,3% in order to entertain visitors. It's one of the rules of the festival — to serve only local Munich beer.

Getting people drunk follows some traditions. The opening of the festival is marked with a parade of beer tents. They march from the Parliament's building to Theresienwiese, where a beer keg is happily tapped 🛢.

On first Sunday people dress up and follow the same route. It's a bright and spectacular event, where people in costumes follow the Bavarian administration.

So it's only beer and parades? 🎆

Not really. Apart from drinking and listening to Bavarian music, horseraces are popular as the origin of the festival. Plus, you can always enjoy the agricultural fair.

According to statistics, each year the event is attended by approximately six billion people. The same amount of beer is drunk, which makes one litre per one person. Not as impressive as I imagined. I bet you drink more on a regular Friday!

Driven by Dutch courage, we created this emoji collection so that you can use it for Oktoberfest.