Once upon a time, long long ago in a far away land known as Bavaria, a Prince married a Princess. The Prince’s loyal soldiers thought that horse races would be a most fitting way to celebrate the happy event, and Oktoberfest was born. In Kitchener-Waterloo, Oktoberfest was not established by royal decree, but with a noble motive just the same.
Sierra Leone Brewery Limited has joined other countries in the world to celebrate Oktoberfest past Saturday at the Family Kingdom. The Oktoberfest attracted thousands of Sierra Leoneans who took the opportunity to join Brewery management and staff as this festival became officially a calendar programme in Sierra Leone.
Brewery in collaboration with other stake holders, came together to make the Oktoberfest a success. Oktoberfest was organised as a fund raising event, which aims to support the maternity ward of Lion Heart Medical Centre, Yele and establish sports program for young people. The event was the first time to debut in the history of Sierra Leone and create a tradition of fun for a cause.
The festival was for purely Brewery products including the world’s best in beer Mutzig, Climax, Heineken, Star Beer, Stout and assorted soft drinks. It was a sign that Brewery is going places.
The Managing Director Willy Ngana said he was very happy about the turnout as thousands of people were in support of Brewery. He said Brewery is determine to do more to give Sierra Leoneans more chance to enjoy what other countries has been enjoying.
He said Brewery will definitely control the beer market with quality products that Sierra Leoneans will never regret. He said the Oktoberfest will become an annual event and will get better and better as the years pass by.
During the festival, the Sierra Leone Dance Troop were on hand to put up a brilliant performance and they indeed entertained the guests who had paid Le50,000 to be part of the festival.
Also John B Jazz Band performed excellently giving people time to enjoy themselves with very good music. The performance heralded the Oktoberfest along with the quality beer that were available. Oktoberfest is now organised in many African countries including Rwanda, Congo, Egypt, Nigeria. It is an event organised all over the world during the month of October.
Oktoberfest is the world’s largest fair held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16-day festival running from late September to the first weekend in October with more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event every year. To the locals, it is not called Oktoberfest, but “die Wies’n”, after the colloquial name of the fairgrounds Theresienwiese themselves. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the original Munich event.
The Munich Oktoberfest originally took place during the sixteen days up to, and including, the first Sunday in October. In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival would go on until October 3 German Unity Day. Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the first Sunday is October 2 and 18 days when it is October 1. In 2010, the festival lasted until the first Monday in October, to mark the anniversary of the event. The festival is held in an area named the Theresienwiese field, or meadow, of Therese, often called Wiesn for short, located near Munich’s center. Large quantities of Oktoberfest Beer are consumed, with almost 7 million litres served during the 16 day festival in 2007.
Visitors may also enjoy a wide variety of traditional food such as Hendl (roast chicken), Schweinebraten (roast pork), Schweinshaxe (grilled ham hock), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl (sausages) along with Brezen (pretzel), Knödel (potato or bread dumplings), Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Rotkohl/Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a spiced cheese-butter spread) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).
Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields were named Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s meadow”) in honor of the Crown Princess, and have kept that name ever since, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the “Wies’n”.
Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest.
“The festival was eventually prolonged and moved ahead to September to allow for better weather conditions. Today, the last day of the festival is the first Sunday in October. In 2006, the Oktoberfest extended two extra days because the first Tuesday, October 3, was a national holiday. Over the past 200 years, Oktoberfest was canceled 24 times due to cholera epidemics and war.”
In 1811, an agricultural show was added to promote Bavarian agriculture. The horse race persisted until 1960; the agricultural show still exists and is held every four years on the southern part of the festival grounds. In 1816, carnival booths appeared; the main prizes were silver, porcelain, and jewelry. The founding citizens of Munich assumed responsibility for festival management in 1819, and it was decided to make the Oktoberfest an annual event. Later, it was lengthened and the date pushed forward, because days are longer and warmer at the end of September.
To honour the marriage of Prince Ludwig and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a parade took place for the first time in 1810. Since 1850, this has become an annual event and an important component of the Oktoberfest. Eight thousand peoplemostly from Bavariain traditional costumes walk from Maximilian Street through the centre of Munich to the Oktoberfest grounds. The march is led by the Münchner Kindl.
By Austin Thomas
Wednesday October 30,2013