Oktoberfest 2013: Gun salute marks end of annual beer festival

Traditional German beer festival has animated Munich since September
Around 7.5million litres of beer are thought to have been drunk
Event was brought to a close today with traditional rifle ceremony

By
Kieran Corcoran

PUBLISHED:

20:16 GMT, 6 October 2013

|

UPDATED:

07:26 GMT, 7 October 2013

It is the world’s biggest celebration of beer, beloved by Germans and the thousands of tourists who annually flock to Munich.

But even the lederhosen-clad drinkers of Oktoberfest know that all good things must come to an end, as the final steins of beer were poured this afternoon.

The traditional festival, which has been going strong since 1810, was ended this afternoon with a gun salute in front of a monument in honour of Bavaria.

Fire! The traditionally-clad mountain riflemen's association fired a round to mark the end of the festival

Fire! The traditionally-clad mountain riflemen’s association fired a round to mark the end of the festival

Ceremonial: The so-called Boellerschiessen took place this afternoon at the Bavaria monument in Munich

Finale: The gun salute is carried out with a special, curved handgun

Prost! The German equivalent of 'cheers' rang out across the drinking halls of Bavaria over the past weeks, as this barmaid served up beers to all and sundry

Prost! The German equivalent of ‘cheers’ rang out across the drinking halls of Bavaria over the past weeks, as this barmaid served up beers to all and sundry

The so-called Boellerschiessen ceremony was carried out by the traditionally-clad mountain riflemen’s association, to bring down the curtain on the festival, which has run since 21 September.

The festival, which has just been repeated for the 180th time, reliably draws in some 6million visitors, who polish off some 7.5million litres of beer between them, traditionally served in huge stein glasses which hold almost two pints.

Revellers this year will have found the festival pricier than ever, with the average beer clocking in at
€9.66 (£8.15), but the steadily rising prices

But the 3.6 per cent hike is unlikely to have dampened the spirits of this year’s revellers, who have taken up the traditional outfits of stretchy leather lederhosen for men and drindl dresses for women more enthusiastically than ever before.

Tradition: The floridly-dressed characters of Oktoberfest have been out in force since September 21

Crowds: More than 6million people thronged the streets of Munich over the duration of the festival

Mass drinking: This beer tent was filled with revellers hunting for one last stein before the festival ended

The folksy get-ups, on sale in the capital for around €50, have been a particular hit among the city’s youth, as well as visiting tourists, who would not have touched the old-fashioned gear a few years ago.

‘I wanted to be part of the local
atmosphere. Everyone was talking about it,’ said Lindsey Zhang, a
20-year-old from New York who is studying in Paris.

She
came to Oktoberfest with her friend Marina Teixeira from Sao Paulo.
Both women bought dirndls near the Oktoberfest tents.

Old-school: The traditional drindl dress was a popular choice among young women at Oktoberfest

Pricey: Despite their obvious enthusiasm, these beers will have set the revellers back by around £40

Masses: Huge numbers of drinkers flood the city every year to quaff beer, eat pretzels and dance to oompah music

Keen: This visitor went to extreme lengths to get her hands on a prized stein

‘Everybody told me it would be nicer if I wore it,’ Teixeira said. ‘Otherwise you’ll look like a tourist.’

But
today’s revival is the most pronounced, said Simone Egger, a professor
in folklore and ethnology at Munich’s Ludwig-Maximilians-University.

‘It’s
taken on a whole new dimension,’ Egger told Reuters. She said
globalisation had created a desire for people to seek out local
specialities.

Hefty: Vast amounts of meat and bread are also consumed at Oktoberfest

Youthful: Young locals and tourists are also said to be embracing the festival spirit as never before

On trend: Drindls, sported here by these five women, are available throughout Munich for around ¿50

‘What’s old is cool now,’ said Isabel Seidel, a 25-year-old student from Berlin at Oktoberfest.

Even Pippa Middleton got in on the action, donning a red drindl in Austria for a similar folk festival.

The festival, which was originally held entirely in October, has been an important
part of local culture since 1810 when it was first held to celebrate the
wedding of Bavaria’s crown prince.

Every year the festival starts with the city’s mayor – currently Christian Ude – inserting a tap into the first keg of Oktoberfest beer on the first morning.

O zapft is!

O zapft is! Munich mayor Christian Ude began the festival this year by tapping a keg with the traditional cry

With a traditional cry of ‘O’zapft is!’ (‘It’s tapped!’), the festival begins as the mayor hands the first stein to the serving governer of Bavaria.

The festival, which also featured pretzels, fairground rides and traditional brass ‘oompah’ music has become ever more elaborate over the years as more and more people from around the world come in droves to get a taste of the action.

BEER PARADISE IN NUMBERS – THE MILLIONS OF GLASSES, THOUSANDS OF CHICKENS AND ODD SCUFFLE THAT MAKE OKTOBERFEST TICK

More than 6.9million people are thought to have attended the festival this year, though estimates show they are mostly locals, with only 20 per cent of drinkers coming from abroad.

The quantity of beer consumed – usually in one-litre ‘stein’ glasses – is likely to have topped 7.5million litres, and similar awesome amounts of food will have been drunk.

It has been projected that 509,000 roast chickens, 59,000 pork knuckles, 116 whole oxen and 85 calves will be consumed during the festival.

Based on the average cost of a stein, beer-sellers will have taken more than £61million over the festival. All the steins in Oktoberfest tents are clear glass, so that drinkers can see for certain that their glass has been filled full.

Only Munich-based breweries can sell beer in Oktoberfest tents, and they must also meet stringent purity tests. Only six breweries fit the bill at present.

And, despite its folksy image, Oktoberfest can also be a rowdy event, German magazine De Spiegel reported that police responded to 201 incidents on the first day of the festival.

Comments (21)

Share what you think

Newest
Oldest
Best rated
Worst rated

The comments below have not been moderated.

dailycommonsense,

London home of Mary Poppins,

13 hours ago

love the Oktoberfest, it’s like Disney Land for adults. the beer is amazing, the food is amazing, the Bavarian women are sublime. atmosphere is brilliant and never any trouble…. unlike Notting Hill….

chrissyboy,

London, United Kingdom,

18 hours ago

Ich liebe Deutsch frauen

John Frum,

The South Pacific,

18 hours ago

“To the Realscarface: oh, an American moniker but you are dissing the US again…. Our war projects?? US wars have ALWAYS been about freedom for others. I for one am tired of us getting involved with ingrate countries of low repute…. Now, stick a sock in your glockenspiel.. by the by Germans are still fair game for jabs, they still have a lot to live down..

– Andrew_59, Richmond VA, United States,” ======= US wars always about freedom for others? Blimey you are deluded.

John Frum,

The South Pacific,

18 hours ago

A couple of pedantic points: those glasses are not “steins”, they are “mas”; Oktoberfest is not a beer festival, it is a festival of culture at which beer is consumed.

DrMallard,

West Palm Beach FL USA,

21 hours ago

Seeing those lasses serving up the beer definitely brought out my appetite. The food looked pretty good, too.

Simon,

China,

21 hours ago

I like Einstein or maybe zwei.

Andrew_59,

Richmond VA, United States,

22 hours ago

To the Realscarface: oh, an American moniker but you are dissing the US again…. Our war projects?? US wars have ALWAYS been about freedom for others. I for one am tired of us getting involved with ingrate countries of low repute…. Now, stick a sock in your glockenspiel.. by the by Germans are still fair game for jabs, they still have a lot to live down..

therealscarface,

Liverpool, United Kingdom,

21 hours ago

This wasn’t a general US dissing, I just wanted to point out something of the utter nonsense from Mr. cap. In fact there could be said quite more…..Ingrate countries with low repute…Do you know where you american whites came from? Yes Europe. You are still sitting on other peoples land! Just because of the minimal influence from the natives in nowadays United States which causes zero reminder of one of the biggest human crim es all in all you’re still (in 2013) not in the position to tell us what is wrong correct! Maybe you should start to tidy your own room for once, there is something to do…The germans have to live down? They have done their homework, inclusive a useless (because others would have a better life under a successful germ control) stealing of land, money many more….The opposite is you, the Indians are stll waiting….

tehtarikmemoirs,

KL, Malaysia,

1 day ago

Gorgeous women in Dirndls! Love it!

bb49,

Kamloops, Canada,

1 day ago

The best damn party in the world!

Kenny,

Hong Kong, Hong Kong,

1 day ago

Wow those “handguns” look like portable cannons. I wouldn’t like to be on the receiving end of one of those! Anyway some great pictures here of a great event.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Who is this week’s top commenter?
Find out now

News

Bavarian.Me

Oktoberfest 2013: Gun salute marks end of annual beer festival

BEER PARADISE IN NUMBERS – THE MILLIONS OF GLASSES, THOUSANDS OF CHICKENS AND ODD SCUFFLE THAT MAKE OKTOBERFEST TICK

Comments (21)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

BEER PARADISE IN NUMBERS – THE MILLIONS OF GLASSES, THOUSANDS OF CHICKENS AND ODD SCUFFLE THAT MAKE OKTOBERFEST TICK

Share or comment on this article

Comments (21)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply