Germany’s Oktoberfest, one of the oldest and most famous festivals in the world, was officially launched when the mayor of Munich performed the ceremonial tapping of the first keg, ushering in the 17-day festival.
The festivities began on Saturday (September 18) with a traditional twelve gun salute, the signal for Munich mayor, Christian Ude, to tap the first keg.
This year the festival, which began in 1810 to mark the first wedding of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen, celebrates its 200th anniversary.
Throughout the years, despite war and disease, the Germans managed to celebrate 176 Oktoberfests over the past 200 years. That’s a pretty good attendance rate for beer drinkers. For the first time in its history there is no smoking allowed in the beer tents.
Oktoberfest began on September 18 and runs until October 4. The festival is expected to attract over 5 million visitors.