Bavaria has nothing in beer these days. Prices have risen in Oktoberfest, but when the weather is good and the first liter has been drunk, which is how beer is served, by liters, the pocket becomes looser. About 14.5 euros per jug and the nearly 3.5 million people who have passed through the fairgrounds have already drunk 5.6 million liters.
To experience Oktoberfest you have to wear leather shorts or a dirndl, the little suit they wear, and drink as if there were no tomorrow. But it’s not enough. You should know, for example, that the Oktoberfest is inaugurated by the mayor of Munich with the exclamation ¡O’zaft!something like “it can be used” once the first keg of beer is opened with mallet and tap. The event always takes place on a Saturday and has its ritual. It is counted with scrupulous precision how many blows the city boss needs to open the barrel. Mayor Thomas Wimmer, who founded the tradition in September 1950, needed 17 strokes. Record holders Christian Ude and his successor Dieter Reiter only scored two hits.
Anyone who goes to the Oktoberfest should know that the large Munich breweries produce a special variety with more alcohol. The correct technique for holding the heavy glass carafe is important: do not reach over the handle or grip the glass with the palm of your hand, but simply hold the handle. In this way, one avoids crushing one’s fingers when toasting with one’s neighbor because toasting with everyone sitting at the same table is obligatory, especially when the music band encourages guests to drink while singing. Congratulations (“A cheers, a cheers to cosiness. Oans. Two. Drink!“) -a very successful way to increase beer sales but impossible to pronounce-.
It is easier to deal with the grammar, because in Bavaria, which, like the rest of the country, does not go into familiarity if the oldest person does not expressly say so, it is allowed during the Oktoberfest to leave oneself at home. For this reason, the waiters wear a clip with their name on it. dirndl or on the straps of your pants. For those who do not like beer, the Oktoberfest is also a suitable place, since wine has always been and is part of the festival. Since 1984 there has even been a wine tent offering more than 15 types of wine, sparkling wine and champagne. The maximum time spent in that tent is four hours.
The atmosphere at Oktoberfest is boisterous, happy and tipsy. The conditions for flirting are met because since the tradition is sexist, men are given clues. For example, if the bow of the apron that women wear is tied on the left, it means that she is single. If it is on the right it means that she has a partner or is married and if the bow is on the back it means that she is still a virgin. There are visitors who have never heard of this custom and tie their aprons at random, but that’s what the tent bullies are for, guys like closets who act mercilessly against harassment, neutralize anyone who gets out of hand, prevent people from dancing. on top of the tables and give waitresses and waiters free access to customers, loaded as they are with mugs of beer and platters of sausages, meatballs and knuckles.