Today, October 6th, is the last day of the 2013 Oktoberfest in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The Műnchen Oktoberfest is the first and original Oktoberfest. You see Oktoberfests all over. They sprout up as quickly as the fall leaves drop. I have enjoyed everyone I have visited, but my first and always-will-be favorite is the grand daddy of them all in Munich, Germany.
Crown Prince Ludwig fell to his knees on the leaves of the forest floor outside the family castle in Bavaria, reached out the ring (Wow, that’s a big stone!), and asked Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, “Will you marry me, please?” “Promise to be King?” she asked, shyly. “For you, anything.” What could she say? “Yes.”
On October 12, 1810, a Friday, Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig the 1st) married Princess Therese in the open field outside the city gates of Munich. The marriage was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria, and everyone was invited to the party. As the happy guests left the marriage fair grounds, they laughed, jostled each other, waved goodbye and shouted, “See you next year on the ‘Theresienwiese.’” In prompt good order and loud acclaim the citizenry of Munich and Bavaria had renamed the nuptial grounds, “Theresa’s Meadow,” a joyful site to remember and revisit.
And, they have ever since.
In that year, 1810, one hundred and three years ago, the Oktoberfest was born.
In 1819, the City of Munich assumed responsibility for festival management, allowing the royal family to attend to royal business. Of course, there was always a standing invitation and a special place for Theresa and her nine children, as I am sure there is today for their descendants. And, even today, the locals refer to the event, not as Oktoberfest, but as the “Wiesn,” for Theresa’s Meadow and the memory of that first marriage festival and the Princess who became their beloved Queen and friend.
Things are much expanded on the Wiesn these days. There are now fourteen large tents and twenty small tents, seating and serving over 75,000 festival goers at any one time. Visitors from all the lands of the world attend the fair, which now starts earlier to take advantage of the longer and warmer days at the end of September. This year’s Oktoberfest began on September 21st and ends today, Sunday, October 6th. The first Sunday in October is the usual finish of the fun. And, fun it is. Good food and, of course, good beer. The festival opens with a twelve-gun salute and the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest beer by the Mayor of Munich with the happy cry “Ozapft is!” – “It’s tapped.” The race is on and the time is aldays too short on Theresa’s Meadow.
As the visitors leave, they still smile and yell across to each other, ““See you next year on the Wiesn.”
Next year, on the Theresienwiese.
Until then,
Grandpa Jim