OKTOBERFEST explained by a Munich Native! Everything you need to know! | Feli from Germany

what do you mean oktoberfest doesn't take place in october i mean hello oktoberfest let's go dressed up as beer mugs we're gonna have the best costume at the entire festival hi can we get two white clothes please [Applause] hello servos and welcome back to my youtube channel in case you're new here my name is felicia i moved to the us in the fall of 2016 so about four years ago and i'm located in cincinnati ohio but i'm actually from munich germany where i was born and where i lived my whole life until i was 22 and as many of you probably know munich is the city where oktoberfest takes place the oktoberfest the original and today would have been the last day of oktoberfest 2020 i was supposed to be there right now and i'd probably be sitting in a beer tent with my friends in this very moment or maybe i would already be standing on the bench and singing angels by robbie williams but as you can see that's not the case because oktoberfest was cancelled this year for a very good reason but that doesn't mean that we can't spend our time talking about it and because there are so many people here in the us and all around the world were interested in oktoberfest but don't really know a whole lot about it except that people drink beer there i thought that as a munich native i will let you in on everything you need to know if you're just interested in it or if you plan on actually visiting next year or sometime in the future so i divided this video into different chapters that you can see down here and in the info box below i'm gonna talk about some basic facts and background information then oktoberfest myths that i'll correct some hands-on tips with do's and don'ts for your first visit which you should definitely watch because unfortunately there is a lot that you can do wrong when you go to oktoberfest and because of that many people don't really have a good time unfortunately so watch my tips to prevent any stress and disappointment and last but not least i'll share some interesting numbers about oktoberfest and as you can see i put on my dirndl actually you can't really see it i didn't really realize that you wouldn't be able to see it all that much in the video but i'm gonna show you what it looks like over here um i also posted a bunch of pictures on my instagram from the actual oktoberfest so check that out as well if you want um yeah i also braided my hair which i don't usually do that at oktoberfest but fits the theme i thought today um yeah so let's start so here are a few basic facts first locals call it wiesen we say oktoberfest ii but if you're from munich or from bavaria you definitely call it visan instead ich ke of dibizen we also refer to it as the fifth season because it's such a big thing lots of munich people just go there for lunch or to meet up with friends or celebrate their birthdays and we would actually wear our traditional clothes to high school sometimes and then go straight to oktoberfest with our friends afterwards it pretty much marks the end of the beer festival season in southern germany because most beer festivals take place throughout the spring summer and fall we have many fairs and beer festivals in southern germany that are similar to oktoberfest because they're all traditional fairs but oktoberfest really is just the name of the one fair in munich all the other festivals in the area have different names so they're not copies of the munich oktoberfest in northern germany though there actually are some oktoberfest copies the first oktoberfest took place in october 1810 as the wedding celebration of prince ludwig and princess teresa of saxony hillbrookhausen they invited all munich people to come out and celebrate with them for several days food and drinks were free and there was a big horse race the place where it took place and where it still takes place today is therefore called teresian visa teresa's meadow even though it's now a paved area every year oktoberfest starts on the third saturday in september at noon when the mayor of munich opens the first barrel of beer with the famous bavarian phrase otzavtis it's tapped it usually lasts for 16 days including three weekends and ends on the first sunday in october except for years when the german unification day on october 3rd is after that first sunday because in that case oktoberfest gets extended until october 3rd so then it's either 17 or 18 days long every year on the very first day lots of people head to oktoberfest super early in the morning like around 7 a.m or so and line up in front of their favorite beer tent and then once the beer tents open at nine they run inside and grab a table and then wait around until beer starts being served at noon it's a pretty crazy experience i've done it once in my life and i don't know i think that was enough there are 12 big beer tents that are more like beer halls they're run by the six muni breweries augustina polana hakapshoa hovbroy luvenboy and spartanboy in addition to that there's a wine tent a cabin-like tent called kefa and several smaller tents outside of the tents there are also about 80 rides and attractions and dozens of food stands the beer tents always open at 9 or 10 a.m and close around 11 pm every night which is very early compared to german nightclub hours so many visitors therefore head to after visa events afterwards the only tents that are open longer are the wine tent and the kefa tent there's a green hill next to the bavaria statue where people go to lay down and relax or throw up it is therefore known as kotz visa or kotzugu so the puke hill people also sometimes get caught having sex there and there's a website called munchenkotsdie munichpukes where you can find pictures of the nasty sides of oktoberfest the second weekend off oktoberfest is known as the italian weekend to locals because every year about 200 000 italians travel to munich that weekend and many of them stay in rvs all over the city 2020 is the first time since 1949 so the first time in 71 years that oktoberfest has been cancelled it's been canceled 25 times in total now here are a few myths about oktoberfest that i'd like to correct and these are myths that i've heard about here in the us so let me know what other oktoberfest myths you've heard about in other parts of the world the first myth is that it takes place in october and of course as i've already mentioned that is not entirely true since most of it takes place in september actually but it does end in october the second myth is that the chicken dance is part of the oktoberfest tradition i've been to different german festivals here in the cincinnati area and at every single one of them people have danced the chicken dance assuming that that's something super german that we do at our beer festivals but no that's totally off i have no idea where this misunderstanding originates but the chicken dance isn't a german or bavarian tradition at all and we'd never do that at our festivals the song was actually written in the 1950s by a swiss music teacher and it's called ententan so duck dance in the original german version i personally only know it from like kitty discos at vacation resorts that we would travel to growing up here at the cincinnati oktoberfest it's actually the annual highlight as they hold the world's largest chicken dance here they had about 48 000 participants in 1994 and yes many of those people wear chicken costumes or chicken hats doing that so please don't show up to the munich oktoberfest in a chicken costume the third myth is that it's a tradition to have wiener dog races so dakiren but again no that's not something that we do in munich but this is something that is done at many other oktoberfests in other countries including here in the us they do it here in cincinnati as well and they dress up their dogs as hot dogs the last myth that i've come across is that at oktoberfest all there is to do is drink beer and yes there is lots of beer but there's also all of those rides and booths and food stands and it's really an event for the whole family i used to love it as a kid i'm pretty sure that i went every single year growing up and i definitely didn't drink beer back then and i still loved it so much you can kind of compare it to a state fair in the u.s it's a little different of course a lot more german but there is so much more to it than just beer now this is probably the most important part of the video because going to this 6 million people event without knowing what you're doing can and pretty disappointing and every visitor should have an amazing experience so here is what you need to know the first point is an advice from a native munich person don't go to oktoberfest in fake dirndl costumes or fake lederhosen that you got at a halloween store or at those cheap stores at the munich train station to us that just looks ridiculous and it's almost like you're mocking our culture a little so either get a real dirndl or get real which lederhosen are a lot more expensive than dirndls but a decent journal you can get for about a hundred euros if you're not super picky the good ones are a lot more expensive and if you don't want to do that just come in regular clothes that's totally fine of course everyone can dress however they want but i'm just letting you know what munich people think and from that perspective don't go in a beer mug or chicken costume either because to us the traditional clothing isn't a costume it's actual clothes that bavarian people do wear to church or to weddings and other occasions by the way you can tell if a woman is single or taken by the position of the bow of the apron if it's tight on the right side it means that she's taken if it's on the left side it means she's single my second advice is avoid weekends oktoberfest takes place for 16 days straight seven days a week and if you have the choice definitely go during the week rather than on the weekend don't make the mistake to think that it'll be dead during the week because it won't be it could still be pretty hard to get a seat in the afternoon or evening so if you have the time go earlier in the day claim your seats and then stay till the end if you don't have a choice and you can only go on the weekend go as early as possible and by that i mean like 9 or 10 am especially if you're a larger group and want to get seats together but even if you just want to walk over the festival and go on rides i don't recommend going on like a saturday or sunday afternoon because it'll be incredibly crowded just walk and you might have to wait in line forever to get on a ride number three have a meeting point agree on a meeting point that everyone in your group will be able to find in case you guys get separated because your phones might die or your messages might just not go through because there's so many people in one place how to get there first advice don't drive i feel like this is self-explanatory but especially to all americans watching this don't try to drive to oktoberfest even if you don't plan on drinking because finding parking is almost impossible and if you do find something it'll probably still be a 20-minute walk from there and it'll be really pricey i don't recommend taking a bike or an e-scooter either unless you won't drink but riding a bike or e-scooter drunk in germany can cost you a fine and of course it's not safe instead take public transportation it'll be super packed but it's the best way to get there you can take the s-bahn suburban train to hakka brooke and then walk with the masses from there or take the uban subway to teresian visa how to find seats each beer tent is a little different but they usually have a band somewhere in the middle and then they have lots of beer benches set up some of these will be exclusively for people with reservations especially the ones that are in the so-called boxes and on the balconies but the majority of the tables are open for everyone you don't need to wait to be seated if you see a free table just go ahead and claim it and if you see just a few free seats at a table ask the people sitting there if you can join now oftentimes it'll look like there are no free seats but real munich people know that that's not actually the case because people can always scoot together because there's actually five people meant to sit on each side of the table and when it's just you and a friend so just two people you'll definitely be able to join somewhere now if you're with a larger group and want to sit together it might be a good strategy to split up at first and sit at different tables because people come and go and once the other people at your table leave you can get the rest of the group it's always smart to go to tables where people look like they're about to leave or they're really wasted or where it's people with kids because they might not last much longer and then you'll be able to claim the table as yours number six how to get in there's no general entrance fee and the festival can be entered at different entrances you just walk in the bigger question is how to get into the beer tents now if you go in the mornings or during the week and the tents haven't reached their full capacity yet you can usually just walk in you may or may not be asked for your id at the entrance now in case they do reach full capacity which happens in the evenings and on the weekends the tents will close their doors and people will start lining or rather piling up in front there's usually an app and a website that shows which tents are currently closed and which ones are still open now if everything's closed you might have to just line up but you can also try a different strategy in a lot of cases the beer garden so the outdoor area of the tent will still have a few seeds so you might be able to go there instead the beer garden can be a really great choice especially if the weather is nice and if you want to have some conversation because there's no music outside another option is to make a reservation for you and your friends but you'll have to do it months in advance and you'll have to pay a bunch of money that you'll get back in the form of food and drink coupons you'll have to reserve a full table which is intended to seat 10 people and you'll get a wristband that lets you go in and out another option is that you go to the tents whenever the reservations change you might have to look at the times but most reservations are only valid for a certain time period so lots of people will be leaving the tent at a certain time and some tables will be marked public afterwards so going in at those times can be a good call the next point is money definitely make sure to bring cash you will find atms at oktoberfest but you won't be able to pay with your card and just in general you should bring as little as possible with you so i recommend not bringing your wallet also oktoberfest is expensive one mass of beer which is one liter cost over 11 euros in 2019 and the prices increase every year for tip we usually just tell the waitress or waiter to round it up a little food inside the tents but also outside at the food stands is expensive as well and so are the rides my favorite roller coaster olympia looping costs about 9 euros for one ride once you've made it to a table there will be waiters taking care of you regarding the drinks as well as the food the most important sentence that you'll need is eine massbite which means one liter please or you know spy must better spit etc oktoberfest beer is not only more expensive it's also stronger than regular beer it usually has six percent instead of five so please be aware of that and make sure to eat something before you go to oktoberfest and take it slowly we don't want you to end up at the ambulance tent or on the pukel each tent only serves beer by their brewery and please don't expect this to be like a craft beer fair where you'll have 50 different beers to choose from because in most tents you can only get lager or radla which is lager mixed with lemon soda and you can usually get non-alcoholic beer you could get water you can get some soda but no other kinds of beer or alcoholic beverages so if you want some hefeweizen or liquor you'll have to look for it outside of the tents at the booths and there's also two tents where you can find this at what to eat make sure not to miss out on the amazing food at oktoberfest i'm a vegetarian but the wiesen hindus so the chicken is legendary and so are all the other rose dishes that you can get fish is also very common at oktoberfest and then you definitely need to make sure to try the pretzels the roasted almonds chocolate covered fruits and at the table definitely also try some keys of spatzler my favorite and kaiserschmann which is a dessert music knowledge the live bands at the tents do play some traditional bavarian brass music but at certain times usually when it gets busier and at night they switch to party songs that everyone can sing along to and that's when people start dancing on the benches many of those songs are german of course but lots of them are also english-speaking songs some american oktoberfest classics are songs like take me home country roads sweet caroline or summer of 69. there are lots of lists and playlists of the most popular oktoberfest songs out there and you might want to check those out before you go to oktoberfest to practice a little i'm going to put a link in the info box below like you could learn the dances of the flight lead and cowbell and tandiana and definitely learn the lyrics of the song angels by the british singer robbie williams he's a huge pop star in europe for some reason most people have never heard of him here in the us but this song gets played a lot at oktoberfest especially each day when the beer tends close and also on the very last day of oktoberfest when people sing angels one last time while holding sparklers let's talk about the tents be aware that each tent has a different atmosphere reputation and clientele the hofbroy and the leuven boytens are known for being very touristy for example my favorite tan personally is the hakka fest set and some tents are especially fancy like the wine tent kefir or marsh style that's where you can find lots of rich people and celebrities every year make sure to check out the rest of the fair as well not just the beer tens i personally recommend my favorite roller coaster olympia looping i also recommend otoa where you're standing in this barrel and then it starts spinning so fast that you'll be stuck to the wall and then the floor will be retracted and then there's also two traditional classics the one is toboggan where there is a conveyor belt to take you up and then a slide to go down and the fun is to watch all the drunk people struggle on the conveyor belt and then there's the toefl strat devil's wheel where you pay to enter the audience area and then if you're brave enough you can volunteer to go on the spinning plate in the middle with other people and there's gonna be an operator who keeps turning up the speed and then he starts attacking everyone with a sandbag and the goal is to stay on the plate longer than everyone else and there's also a historical part of oktoberfest called oy divison which looks more like what oktoberfest was like traditionally you'll pay a small entrance fee to enter that area and it's a lot calmer and a lot more historical there my last tip is about drinking beer at the beer tents so the most important activity at oktoberfest please don't get up on the benches and chug a whole liter of beer some people do that and they'll be cheered on by everyone else in the tent but they usually get kicked out afterwards so not a great idea the next point is that bavarians usually don't drink the entire mug of beer but will usually leave a little bit of beer in the mug we call it noigal or spooks look so it's the backwash so if you want to fit in leave a little bit of backwash in the mug and last but not least when you cheer with everyone never do it from above always just cheers normally with everyone because if you hit another mug from above it'll probably break last but not least here are a few interesting numbers about oktoberfest in 2019 there were 6.3 million visitors who consumed 7.3 million liters of beer and 124 oxen and spent a total of 1.2 billion euros there are about 12 000 employees working at oktoberfest each year the terresian visa where the oktoberfest takes place is 42 hectares so about 104 acres big all tents together can seat about 120 000 people in total about 70 percent of oktoberfest visitors are from bavaria 60 of those bavarians are from munich 9 are from other places in germany and 19 visit from other countries most oktoberfest tourists come from the us the uk italy and australia there are oktoberfest celebrations all over the world based on the munich oktoberfest the largest ones being in kitchener ontario in canada blumenau brazil or not sure how to pronounce it but it looks like a german name so i'm just gonna say blumenau and here in cincinnati ohio wikipedia lists 29 countries besides germany that have oktoberfest celebrations so that's all i have for today please feel free to put all of your questions or information that you'd like to add in the comments below i'm pretty sure that i'll do a reboot of this video next year when oktoberfest can hopefully take place again thank you for watching everyone you know the deal like subscribe follow me on social media and support me on patreon or buy me a coffee if you want to and with that rusty zeke servos [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Feli from Germany

Views: 807,096

Keywords: Munich, Cincinnati, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, München, USA vs. Germany, Life in Germany, Life in USA, U.S., Oktoberfest Guide, oktoberfest munich, Oktoberfest, Wiesn, Münchner Wiesn, Oktoberfest what to wear, dirndl dress, Lederhosen, german culture and traditions, Chicken Dance, wiener dog races, beer festival germany, Bavarian festival, beer fest, Festbier, Augustiner, Hacker, Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Spatenbräu, Hofbräu, hofbräuhaus munich ein prosit, oktoberfest 2022

Id: BHrnabGavtg

Length: 21min 32sec (1292 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 04 2020