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Here is our first posting about Oktoberfest! Today’s posting will be about some background on Oktoberfest and what people wear, while tomorrow’s posting will go into more detail about what all we did on our trip!
History:
Oktoberfest was from September 22 to October 6 this year. The traditional Oktoberfest takes place in the Wiesn in Munich, Germany. The Wiesn is what we call Theresienwiese or Theresa’s meadows, a fairgrounds/park with a large statue of Bavaria. Bavaria is a female personification of the region of Bavaria, just like many European countries have female personifications. The beginning of the formation of the modern Oktoberfest was when King Ludwig I (then Crown Prince Ludwig) married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen in October 1810. Over the years horse races and farmers fairs were added to the festival and more parades were also added. In the late 1800s beer and bratwurst booths began to appear every year at the festival. Oktoberfest has been cancelled a few times over the years in response to disease outbreaks, wars and a terrorist attack in 1980. In modern times the different major German breweries each have their own Beer Tent where revelers can go to celebrate with their brewery of choice. It can be difficult to get into your favorite tent unless you do a lot of prior planning (which we will talk about tomorrow).
Tracht:
Tracht is our German word for overall “Folk Costume” or traditional ethnic clothes. The two main types of Tracht that most people associate with Germany are Lederhosen and Dirndl, although these are more traditionally associated with Bavaria. Bavaria is a Bundesland in Germany, which is kind of like our version of a state. The modern country of Germany has only existed since shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and was more traditionally organized as an empire comprised of separate kingdoms (Königreichen in German).
There are various styles of Lederhosen, but the most popular version for modern adult men in Germany is what we call Bundhosen or Kniebundhosen. These Lederhosen cinch off below the man’s knee, rather than hanging loose halfway down the thigh in a manner more popular with young boys. There is another popular version of adult men’s Lederhosen that hangs loose just above their knees. In the following photo you can see us with a group of guys who are wearing both of these styles of Lederhosen:
As you can see from this photo, there are also different styles of Dirndl depending on how fancy you want to look. Erika wore a much more intricate Dirndl than Johanna and the girl on the right. As you can see in the following photos, Erika’s Dirndl contained and intricate floral pattern and lace edging, while Johanna decided to wear a more traditional daily Dirndl that a commoner would have worn in history.
Although traditional Dirndls can be a bit expensive, many people also own more “costume” versions throughout their life either to wear when there is a big chance of getting dirty like at a bonfire, or just because they are younger. Here is an old photo-set of Erika wearing one of these types of Dirndl:
We will be going into more detail about our trip in tomorrow’s posting. We will be talking about both Oktoberfest and our adventures around Munich when we were not at the festival grounds.
We hope to hear from you and will incorporate your suggestions into our future posts. You can expect our Oktoberfest posting within the next day and we will try to include any good suggestions that we see before that posting.
Auf Wiedersehen!
E&J