Oktoberfest began on October 12, 1810, Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig, married Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates.  This festival lasted for several days with free food and beer served to all.  The celebration concluded with a horse race. 

In 1811, the Bavarian Agricultural Association decided to repeat the festival and showcase farming achievements in much the same way as most US states have a State Fair.  Eminently pleased with the Burgermeister’s decisions, Ludwig had the public fields in Munich Theresienwiese (”Therese’s fields”) in honor of princess.  Most locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the “Wies’n.”  Since 1811, these festivities and horse races have become a Bavarian tradition with Oktoberfest beginning in late September and lasting until the first Sunday in October.

About midday on the first Saturday after 15 September, representatives of all the local breweries begin the festival with a Grand Entry of Landlords and Breweries led by the Münchner Kindl (coat of arms of Munich). This is a colorful procession of carriages and wagons decorated with flowers followed by bands march down the Sonnenstrasse to the Theresienwiese grounds. Once there, the Mayor of Munich must officially open Oktoberfest with the ceremonial tapping the first keg.  This is always a wooden keg and must be opened by driving a tap through the head with a hammer.  Once opened the mayor then exclaims “O’zapft ist!”  (the keg is breached) followed by the wish “Auf eine friedliche Wiesn” (“for a peaceful Oktoberfest”). These exclamations are followed by a signal of twelve gunshots, signaling that beer may now be sold in all of the tents.  

Traditionally, Oktoberfest beer was Münchner dunkel, a dark and malty lager.  Oktoberfest attendees were forced to switch to a Vienna-style lager in the late 1800s when Munich breweries ran out of the darker lager. Today, Märzen bier (March Beer), an amber lager is the quintessential to Oktoberfest beer.  Märzen was brewed in March, laid down in casks during the summer.  Before refrigeration, you couldn’t brew lagers in the summertime since it’d be too warm for yeast to ferment. With the harvest and return to active brewing in September/October, Oktoberfest is also a celebration of the harvest.

When the clock strikes noon on the last day of the Oktoberfest, the festival is closed with another twelve-gun salute followed by a procession out of Theresienwiese. This time the signal isn’t so much for the beer sellers but to remind the masses that the Theresienwiese was originally the king’s rifle range and it was time for the public to go home. Das Schützenfest hat begonnen.

Marksmen have been on the Theresienwiese since long before Oktoberfest and the modern festival has somewhat displaced its predecessor – Schützenfest.  Organized shooting societies began in Switzerland in the 14th century, mostly using crossbows. These local militia contributed significantly to the coherence between the individual cantons and after the end of the Old Zürich War (1450), contributed to the cohesion of the Swiss confederacy. The idea soon expanded beyond the confederacy into Swabia, Bavaria, the Rhineland and the Low Countries (Netherlands).  The main event of a Schützenfest is the shooting competition to determine the marksmen’s king (Schützenkönig) of the following year. The traditional trophy for the winner is a Königsscheibe, a painted target disk. In traditional German houses and barns, the gables are frequently decorated with Königsscheibe.

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