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Report from Munich's Oktoberfest
by Hans Trinker
20 September 2004
If you enjoy big-scale partying beyond the juvenile "spring break", you've
probably already checked out the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnaval in Rio
de Janeiro, Burning Man in the Nevada desert, Amsterdam's Red Light District
on weekends, Mallorca, St. Tropez, Jew-Yoke-Shitty or Las Vegas on New
Year's eve, among other notorious spots. However, none of these places --
at least for White European people -- can match the famous Oktoberfest in
Munich for partying pleasure.
The 16-day Oktoberfest is the world's largest folk festival and also happens
to be known as the world's biggest party. It just began a couple of days
ago, on a weekend where there was much else going on in town -- the world's
largest Motorcycle Fair, InterMot, which alternates annually with Milan; and
the opening of Europe's largest Agricultural Fair, adjacent to the
Oktoberfest complex, occurring every leap year. Indeed, due in part to the
beautiful weather, the local paper reported that this Oktoberfest weekend
was a record-breaker. More than a million people have already visited,
consuming over 560,000 liters of beer.
Here is a brief overview of the various "tents", some of which have a total
seating capacity exceeding ten thousand.
http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/03/
Last Saturday, on opening day, the total capacity had filled up everywhere
within a couple of hours. I was lucky to have been inside the Schottenhamel
tent, known among local connoisseurs to be the best. This is where the
festival officially begins, at noon, when the mayor taps the first keg.
People without reservations line up before the place opens up at nine to get
a good spot in the middle -- though virtually everyone winds up standing on
their seat, just like at a hot ball game or rock concert. Nowhere else will
one find a more intense assembly of sexy, young, blonde women wearing modern
Dirndl outfits.
http://www.dirndl-dress.com/dirndlhistory.php
An American gal might initially think it corny or silly to wear these
colorful outfits under any circumstances, but over here in Munich it's
considered hip for a woman to show off her Dirndl at Oktoberfest. A much
higher percentage of women wear them than men showing up in Lederhosen
outfits. Many of the modern skirts and apron designs do not drop below the
knees. There are even expensive "Trachten" shops that specialize in Dirdl
haute couture. I can understand that women without a Dirndl in such an
environment must feel second-rate and might make an effort to get one for
the following year. An American girl I chatted with, who was wearing jeans,
confided that she felt very jealous. Plenty of the women also had
double-braided hair. It reminded me of some of those photos I'd seen, of
Der Führer visiting the local women in Austrian or Bavarian towns seventy
years ago. Over the course of the weekend, I saw a few Asiatic women in
Dirndls, and even a very dark Niggerette. The variety in patterns, designs,
and colors of Dirndls on display is just amazing. Blouse and vest
combinations for women with full breasts enhance this part of their anatomy
by accentuating and showing off the cleavage. I've seen plenty of folklore
and festive costumes at numerous ethnic parades and special events in
America and elsewhere, and in my view (with regard to women) the nicest
Dirndl costumes even beat the finest Bharatanatyam costumes of Indian folk
dance for beauty and style.
If one wanted to see the more traditional and elaborate Dirndl outfits, worn
with hats, and jewelry, Sunday's long parade, which went through the center
of Munich for over two hours and eventually ended at the Oktoberfest
facility, was definitely the place to be. There were also traditional
hunters, knights on horses, flag bearers, and hairy-legged horse teams
pulling carriages loaded with beer kegs. Best of all, plenty of marching
bands played German martial music that one normally doesn't hear being
played in America by high school or college bands. For some reason, there
was even a contingency of women from Poland, and another from Croatia. By
contrast, their costumes were so awfully gaudy and tacky (a little like
Central American), so perhaps providing this juxtaposition to viewers may
have been the hidden purpose of their participation.
The beer at the Oktoberfest comes only from one of the breweries in Munich.
It is brewed especially for this event, comes from wooden kegs, and is a bit
stronger and more golden-colored than the regular lager beer one gets at the
beer gardens here. Waitresses in cute Dirndls serve the beer in heavy
one-liter glass mugs made in Austria. They can carry up to ten of these
mugs at a time with both hands. Though it may be the case that women don't
enjoy drinking beer as much as men do, I got the impression that women and
men were distributed evenly amongst the visitors. Those who don't like beer
at all and prefer wine can visit the Wine Tent.
No streaming video and sound Webcam could possibly convey the spectacular
party ambience one can only experience at Munich's Oktoberfest, yet those
readers who have been here before but couldn't make it this year (good luck
finding a room if you still want to go before it ends, on October 3) might
wish to trigger their fond memories.
Here.
Here's a collection of links associated with the Oktoberfest, some of which
are outdated or no longer in service:
http://www.meyknecht.de/oktoberfest.htm
Somewhere in or near your home town in America, some organization will be
putting on an Oktoberfest event soon. Since these events are generally
associated with Germanic ethnic pride or awareness, those usual suspects
would just love to suppress them, if they could. But they can't! Even a
multi-cultural place on the West Coast such as San Francisco, with no
longstanding German tradition, unlike communities east of the Mississippi,
puts on a big weekend Oktoberfest, which in just a few years of existence
has become the largest in California. If you can't enjoy the real deal in
Munich, you should at least visit a local event. The bigger festivals might
even have a few Dirndls for sale.
HANS TRINKER
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