Let's raise our glasses

Oktoberfest has been held annually in Hanoi , Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City since 1992, and is one of the oldest Oktoberfest events outside of Germany. Even after the resounding success of the 2023 festival, attracting more than 10,500 attendees and serving 20,000 liters of beer, Oktoberfest in Vietnam affirms its position as the largest beer festival in Southeast Asia.

So how big is this festival in the place where this tradition originated? That is in Munich, the capital of Bavaria (Bayern) in southeastern Germany, with more than 6 million visitors and consumption of 5-6 million liters of beer, along with hundreds of thousands of sausages during each year's Oktoberfest.

“Oktoberfest” means “October Festival”, held periodically at the end of September and lasting until the first week of October. The first festival (held on October 12, 1810) did not have any beer or any alcoholic beverage, but was part of a royal wedding. After that, this activity continued to be held in the following years with many large-scale events, from agricultural exhibitions to traditional costumes… to honor the values of Bavaria. By the late 1800s, breweries realized the importance of the festival and began to sponsor decorated horse-drawn carriages for parades. Since then, the Oktoberfest beer festival has become an iconic annual event of the city of Munich.

Oktoberfest is an iconic annual event in the city of Munich.

Although Oktoberfest has little in common with the “original version” of the 1800s, the beer festival still reflects the traditional values, diversity and sense of community of the Bavarian people for more than 2 centuries. The joy of life, the connection of family members, the brotherhood between friends are always evident in the festival space, which is characterized by the phrase “Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit” (roughly translated: Let’s raise a glass to the satisfaction) appearing throughout the theme song of the festival Ein Prosit.

Wearing traditional Bavarian clothing has also become part of the “Oktoberfest experience” for Munich residents and many international visitors. You may see groups of local men in lederhosen (knee-length leather trousers worn with wooden shoes and woolen socks) happily surrounding the beer tents, while Bavarian girls are always smiling in traditional dirndls (white top with puffy sleeves, a skirt worn over it, and an apron with a cloth sash tied with a bow).

Official beer mug of Oktoberfest 2024

But the most attractive activity for both tourists and locals at the festival is to join the crowd to enjoy hundreds of types of beer in large liter-sized beer mugs, in dozens of super-large beer tents that can accommodate up to a thousand people. People are willing to patiently queue for several hours to get a place in the beer tent, enthusiastically paying from EUR13 to EUR15 for a 1-liter mug of premium beers such as Armbrustschützen-Festzelt, Bräurosl, Fischer-Vroni, etc. The most inspiring image is probably the image of girls in charming traditional costumes, skillfully carrying rows of giant beer mugs to customers.

With nearly 200 events and an extremely large scale, Oktoberfest is not only a beautiful part of the cultural life and spirit of the people of Munich, but the festival has also become an annual destination not to be missed in the city and the state of Bavaria.

Source: https://heritagevietnamairlines.com/nao-ta-cung-nang-coc/