Lesser-known facts about Oktoberfest

*

Oktoberfest

, one of the world’s biggest festivals today, traces its origins to a grand royal wedding way back in 1810. The first-ever fest was held to celebrate the 12th wedding of the Bavarian Crown Prince

Ludwig

to the Saxon-Hildburghausen princess Therese. Every single citizen in

Munich

was invited to the party, which was held over five whole days.

* The fest started off as a non-alcoholic festival, focusing more on events connected to the Bavarian way of living, like horse racing, agricultural shows and other fun activities. All the beer-drinking happened far away from the venue. It was much later that selling and brewing beer became a part of the festival.

* While Oktoberfest has existed for 207 years, this year’s was only the 183rd edition. That’s because the cultural festivals have been cancelled a total of 24 times in the past — two cholera epidemics in the 1800s, the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71), and all the years during and after the two World Wars.

* Oktoberfestbier, a special type of beer that has been served at the festival since 1818, is supplied only by six breweries — Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner-Bräu, Hofbräu-München, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr — who call themselves the

Club of Munich Brewers

.

* Oktoberfestbier, also known as Munich beer or Bavarian beer, is protected by the European Union as a Protected Geographical Indication — at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation has to take place in the Bavarian area.