Oktoberfest

From WikiPilipinas: The Hip 'n Free Philippine Encyclopedia

Oktoberfest is an annual month-long beer festival, jam-packed with activities happening simultaneously across the globe. In the Philippines, this celebration is kicked off in the first days of October, and closed with a major shindig thirty days later. It is usually sponsored by the country's two major beer corporations, San Miguel Corporation and Asia Brewery, Inc.. Locals and tourists particularly enjoy the much-awaited line-up of concerts and rave parties with over-flowing beer held during the weekends of October in Manila, Cebu, Davao and other parts of the Philippines.

1 History
2 See Also
3 References
4 Citation

[edit] History

The first Oktoberfest was traced to the royal wedding of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810. The King invited thousands of guests to attend the royal party held on the fields (known as Theresienwiese or Wies'n, meaning "Theresa's Fields") in front of the city gates.

The following year a State Agricultural Show (now observed every third year) included the horse race event that Ludwig first organized for the party. Soon, it became an annual festivity in the entire country of Bavaria, dubbed Oktoberfest. This festival features a grand parade of "landlords", breweries, costumed performers of traditional dances, and the Riflemen's Procession. The ample amount of beer and food served during the previous years has become one of the highlights of the modern Munich celebration.