Hongkonger Selina Chan has just visited Munich, Bavaria, to attend the original German beer festival. As she’s only an occasional beer drinker, she went as much for the “merry” atmosphere as for the drinking. Chan says children were welcome at the carnival-like festival, and she didn’t see too much evidence of drunkenness in the afternoons. (Evenings may have been a different story.) “It is very much like our New Year’s Eve flower market, and people there treat it as a big annual event,” she says.

Oktoberfest celebrates the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen in 1810, which was commemorated with several days of festivities including horse racing on fields outside Munich called Theresienwiese or Therese’s fields. This is still the site of the Bavarian festival.

While the wedding was the occasion for the partying, the roots of the festivities lie in Bavarian harvest festivals. It’s only in modern times that the festival is seen primarily as a celebration of beer – it’s also a celebration of food, a German Thanksgiving.

Bavaria being good agricultural land, food is plentiful, heavy on the pork, potatoes and cabbage, and also on the wheat – whether in your beer, your pretzel, or your cake.

The peasant origins of the festival also explain the lederhosen and quaint clothing. A couple of hundred years ago, this was Sunday best, and the design showed other Bavarians where you were from.

The Marco Polo Hong Kong hotel’s party is the mother of all festivals here. It’s in its 23rd year and is held on the rooftop car park with great views over the harbour. The ever-popular band The Notenhoblers return with their own manic brand of alphorn and accordion fun – it sounds hokey, it is hokey, and it’s also a great laugh. This year, book a room three days beforehand to get two free tickets on the night of your stay.

Another venerable take on the festival is the Jockey Club’s annual shindig, carrying on the tradition of celebrating with horse racing. This year the Happy Valley track will host parties on October 22, 29 and November 12, which are all Wednesdays, of course.

The Night Market at PMQ will highlight the many newly available craft beers from around the world. There will also be speed drinking contests. The events run on October 17 and 18.

The several King Ludwig locations sell sausages and pork knuckle year round. For Oktoberfest, until October 19, they’re also offering drinking games such as beer pong and music from bands Klostis or Gehrenbergspatzen.

It might be 600 kilometres from Berlin to Munich, but that’s not stopping Berliner bars jumping on the bandwagon. Alongside the mysterious sounding German Meat Turnovers Filled with Meat and Cabbage Served with Green Salad, roast suckling pig, ribs and other traditional items are on offer. The classic beer venue serves up four half-litre pours of traditional brews.

If you are leaving the country, the Regal Airport Hotel’s China Coast Bar and Grill is offering free beer on the first day of its promotion – October 17 – and from then until October 26, special prices and happy hour deals on German beers (5pm-8pm) and classic dishes including crispy pork knuckle with sauerkraut and potato.

OKTOBERFEST SURVIVAL TIPS

• Don’t drink nine pints of beer — seven or eight is probably enough.
• Wear ear plugs — how else will you deal with the accordion music and yodelling?
• Elasticated trousers — not a good look, but there’s pretzels, sauerkraut and sausages to tuck into. And cake.

Beer talk

Bier — beer, the miracle mix of yeast with barley, hops and water. Who knew microbial gasses could be so entertaining?

Katzenjammer — the wailing of a cat, or how Hans expresses his hangover anguish. Caused by drinking too much …

Lowenbrau — Lion’s brew, a popular German beer, one of many that will have a punishing effect in excess.

Oompah — a style of music that could only have become popular before the invention of other forms of mass entertainment.

Pretzel — the drinking snack that’s as tied in knots as your stomach with a Katzenjammer.

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte — not a medical condition but the quintessential chocolate and cherry cake.

Schwein — whether it’s in hams, salamis, sausages or as a gigantic knuckle, the harvest festival food is all about the pork.