134 Fun Facts About Oktoberfest

What is a Hendl, the classic meal served in the Oktoberfest beer tents?

Roast chicken: half a Hendl is so standard an order that bank economists once tracked the cost of a festival visit with an index of two litres of beer, half a chicken and a transit ticket.

What event did the very first Oktoberfest, in October 1810, celebrate?

A royal wedding: Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese on 12 October 1810, and the meadow where the city celebrated was named Theresienwiese in the bride's honour.

Which song do the tent bands strike up every few minutes, ending with everyone drinking together?

'Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit' caught on after a Wiesn landlord began handing out songbooks to his guests in 1898, so that they could sing along with his 30-man band.

Which fairground ride made its Oktoberfest debut in 1818?

A carousel was set up in 1818, but the fairground only boomed from the 1870s, when new trade rules and the railways let showmen travel.

Despite its name, in which month has most of Oktoberfest fallen since the 19th century?

September hosts most of the festival: the opening was moved into late September during the 19th century to take advantage of warmer evenings, so only the final days fall in October.

Roughly how many visitors does Oktoberfest attract each year?

Around 7 million: the record is the 7.4 million of 2026, set in a standard 16-day run, beating the 7.2 million of 2023, which had needed 18 days.

Which Bavarian phrase does the mayor shout after tapping the first keg?

'O'zapft is!' ('It's tapped!') sounds age-old, but the ritual is younger than it looks: Mayor Thomas Wimmer first performed it in 1950.

In which tent does the mayor tap the first keg at exactly noon on opening day?

Schottenhamel hosts the ceremony because that is where Mayor Thomas Wimmer first tapped a keg in 1950; until the mayor has done so, no other tent may pour.

After tapping the first keg, the mayor traditionally wishes the crowd what kind of Wiesn?

A peaceful one: 'Auf eine friedliche Wiesn!' follows the tapping, which the crowd watches closely, betting on how many mallet blows the mayor will need; two is the record.

Traditionally, who is served the very first litre of Oktoberfest beer?

The Minister-President of Bavaria receives the first Maß: the mayor who hammered in the tap fills it and hands it over, a custom the city dates to 1980.

Which mascot leads the Oktoberfest parades, followed by the mayor in a horse-drawn carriage?

The Münchner Kindl ('Munich child') is the little monk from Munich's coat of arms; in the Oktoberfest parades the role is played by a young woman on horseback.

How many breweries are allowed to sell beer at Oktoberfest?

Six: the city admits only large, long-established breweries that brew within Munich's limits, which shuts out even famous Bavarian names from outside the city.

Which of these famous Bavarian breweries is barred from pouring at Oktoberfest?

Erdinger is brewed in Erding, outside the city, and only beer brewed within Munich's limits qualifies as Oktoberfestbier.

Which pastry, sold by the basketful, is the classic snack in the Oktoberfest tents?

Pretzel, or Brezn in Bavarian: the Wiesn version is baked far larger than the everyday kind, and unlike the thin-armed Swabian pretzel its arms are left thick so they stay soft.

Which paler beer style has largely replaced Märzen in the Oktoberfest tents since the late 20th century?

Festbier was built to be easier to drink by the litre than the heavier, maltier Märzen; the name 'Oktoberfestbier' itself is legally reserved for beer from Munich's breweries.

Which Bavarian sausage, made from veal and pork, is traditionally eaten before noon at Oktoberfest?

Weisswurst, the saying goes, must not hear the noon church bells, a rule usually put down to the days before refrigeration, when sausages made fresh each morning would not keep.

What is the unofficial Oktoberfest sport in which competitors hold a full litre mug out at arm's length?

Masskrugstemmen is won by whoever holds the full mug out longest: the arm must stay straight, and one spilled drop means you are out; the sport now has its own governing body in the United States.

Which two colours, taken from the Bavarian flag, dominate Oktoberfest tent decorations?

White and blue are the colours of the Wittelsbachs, the royal house that ruled Bavaria until 1918 and under whose patronage the festival was held until the monarchy fell.

Which brothers, who outfitted the 1910 Oktoberfest centenary parade, turned dirndls and lederhosen into city fashion?

Julius and Moritz Wallach costumed the centenary parade free of charge from their Munich folk-costume shop; the Jewish brothers were later forced out by the Nazis, and Moritz emigrated to the United States.

Which Bavarian folk dance involves rhythmic slapping of the thighs and knees?

The Schuhplattler, from the Alpine regions of Upper Bavaria, Tyrol and Salzburg, has dancers strike their thighs, knees and shoe soles in rhythm, originally as a courtship display.

Investigators concluded in 2020 that the 1980 bombing at Oktoberfest's main entrance was what kind of attack?

Far-right terrorism: the bomber, a 21-year-old right-wing extremist, died in the blast with twelve others, and prosecutors who reopened the case in 2014 concluded he had wanted to sway the 1980 federal election.

Which noon ritual on the last day traditionally brings Oktoberfest to a close?

A gun salute at the Bavaria statue: about 60 marksmen in costume fire black-powder charges from the steps at noon, though the tents keep celebrating until late in the evening.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which event had last forced Oktoberfest to be cancelled?

The Second World War stopped the festival from 1939, and a full Oktoberfest did not return until 1949; even after the 1980 bombing, the mayor decided that night not to call the festival off.

Which disease forced Oktoberfest to be cancelled in both 1854 and 1873?

Cholera: the 1854 epidemic killed about 3,000 people in Munich, among them Queen Therese, for whom the festival meadow is named; the disease returned in 1873.

Which ride, on the Wiesn in its present form since 1979, is often called the symbol of Oktoberfest?

The Ferris wheel run by the Willenborg family has stood on the Wiesn since 1979; its gondolas look out over the whole festival ground to the old town and, in clear weather, the Alps.

On which day of the week does Oktoberfest always open?

Saturday: the festival always opens at noon on a Saturday and closes on a Sunday or, in longer years, a public holiday, so every edition takes in three weekends.

Which Italian city has sent police officers to help manage Oktoberfest crowds since 2005?

Bolzano, capital of German-speaking South Tyrol, has sent officers since 2005 to help especially on the second weekend, when Italian visitors flood in.

What did the 2005 'quiet Oktoberfest' rule restrict before 6 pm?

Only brass music, capped at 85 decibels, may be played until 6 pm: the city wanted afternoons to stay family-friendly and calmer before the party hits start in the evening.

Which mock execution has the Schichtl show staged on Oktoberfest volunteers since 1869?

A beheading by guillotine: the Schichtl variety theatre 'decapitates' a volunteer from the audience around 25 times a day, a gag that has outlived its founder by more than a century.

Which tent hosts 'Gay Sunday', the heart of the Rosa Wiesn, on the festival's first Sunday?

Bräurosl fills with the LGBT community every first Sunday; the gathering grew out of one club's block booking of the tent's balcony, and a quieter 'RoslMontag' meet-up now follows the next day.

Which Munich mayor tapped his first Oktoberfest keg in 2014?

Dieter Reiter needed four blows at his 2014 debut and later matched the two-blow record of his predecessor Christian Ude, who had taken seven on his own first try.

What is the main ingredient of Obatzda, the Bavarian spread served in the beer tents?

Ripe Camembert: Obatzda is made by mashing soft cheese with butter, paprika and chopped onion, a beer-garden dish said to have been devised to use up over-ripe cheese.

At what time do the Oktoberfest tents open on an ordinary weekday?

10 am on weekdays: the tents open an hour earlier, at 9 am, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, though on opening day no beer is poured before the noon tapping.

Which country hosts the Blumenau Oktoberfest, held each October since 1984?

Brazil: Blumenau, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, is named after the German settler who founded it in 1850, and its festival runs for 18 days in a park called Vila Germânica.

Which Chinese city hosts a beer festival modelled on Oktoberfest that draws millions of visitors?

Qingdao was the heart of a German-leased territory from 1898 to 1914, which is why the Tsingtao brewery, founded there in 1903 under German master brewers, exists at all.

Which streaming service released the German drama 'Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood' worldwide in 2020?

Netflix released the series on 1 October 2020, two weeks after German broadcaster ARD premiered it as 'Oktoberfest 1900'; its brewer anti-hero schemes to replace the small beer stands with one giant hall.

In 1933, whom did the Nazi regime bar from working at the Wiesn?

Jewish people were barred from working at the Wiesn in 1933, and the regime kept bending the festival to its propaganda: in 1938 it was renamed the 'Greater German Folk Festival'.

Which two other big events share the Theresienwiese grounds each year?

Frühlingsfest and Tollwood bracket the year on the same ground: the spring fair is run like a small Oktoberfest, and Tollwood's winter market moved there in 2000 after a storm battered its old site.

What do visitors pay to walk onto the main Oktoberfest grounds?

Nothing: entry is free and no ticket is needed for the main festival; only the nostalgic Oide Wiesn at the southern end of the grounds charges a small admission fee.

Since 2012, all Oktoberfest businesses have been supplied with what kind of electricity?

Certified renewable power: the city's utility had run the public areas on green electricity for years before every stall, ride and tent was switched over in 2012.

Which National Guard major is officially credited with proposing the first Oktoberfest's horse race?

Andreas Michael Dall'Armi, a banker and cavalry major, received Munich's first gold citizen's medal in 1824 as the festival's 'inventor', though the coachman whose horse won is also said to have had the idea.

Which medieval Munich race is thought to have inspired the 1810 Oktoberfest horse race?

The Scharlachrennen, named for the scarlet cloth given to the winner, was run outside the Karlstor gate from 1448 and had lapsed in 1786, so the 1810 race revived a tradition the city had lost.

Which rise beside the meadow served as a natural grandstand at the first Oktoberfest?

Sendlinger Hill gave the crowd a natural grandstand, one reason the meadow below was chosen for the 1810 race; the slope was later renamed Theresienhöhe.

What was added to Oktoberfest in 1811 to promote Bavarian farming?

An agricultural show was added in 1811, when Bavaria's farming association took over the invitations and used the festival to parade and reward prize livestock.

Which conflict forced the first cancellation of Oktoberfest, in 1813?

The Napoleonic Wars: Bavaria had fought as Napoleon's ally, then changed sides under the Treaty of Ried on 8 October 1813, declaring war on France in the very month the festival was due.

What has the Glückshafen, one of Oktoberfest's oldest stalls, sold for charity since the festival's first decade?

Lottery tickets: prizes of porcelain, silver and jewellery drew Munich's poorer residents to the early draws, and the Red Cross still runs the stall, passing its profits to the city's welfare charities.

What is unusual about the Wiesn Guglhupf, a small café bar at Oktoberfest?

The whole bar revolves: the round café, named after the ring cake it serves, turns on its own axis, so guests get a full circle's view of the passing crowds without leaving their seats.

Which war caused Oktoberfest to be cancelled in 1866?

The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, in which Bavaria fought on Austria's losing side, cancelled the festival; the Franco-Prussian War forced another cancellation in 1870.

On the Rotor, an Oktoberfest classic patented in 1948, what happens once the drum is spinning fast enough?

The floor drops away, yet nobody falls: the spin presses the riders so hard against the wall that they stick there like flies, just as German engineer Ernst Hoffmeister's patent intended.

What crisis cancelled Oktoberfest in both 1923 and 1924?

Hyperinflation peaked in 1923, wiping out savings and fixed incomes while debtors saw their debts melt away; with money worries everywhere, the festival was dropped that year and the next.

What modest name was given to the scaled-down festival held on the Wiesn from 1946 to 1948?

Autumn Fest (Herbstfest) was a stand-in, staged to give the city some diversion until a full Oktoberfest was possible again; the same name had been used in 1919 and 1920.

At Pitt's Todeswand, Oktoberfest's 'wall of death', what do stunt riders steer around the inside of a wooden drum?

Motorcycles: the riders circle the inside of an eight-metre-high wooden drum, held up by centrifugal force alone, right up to the rim where the spectators stand.

Who was King of Bavaria when the first Oktoberfest was held in 1810?

Maximilian I Joseph had been king for only four years, having risen from elector in 1806; he approved the request to repeat the festival in 1811, and it has returned ever since.

Which innkeeper and strongman began the Oktoberfest entry parade by driving his beer wagons to the Wiesn?

Hans Steyrer, the 'Bavarian Hercules', was stopped by police and fined when he first paraded his beer wagons, staff and band through the city; he simply did it again, and other landlords joined in.

What is chosen each year for Oktoberfest through a competition run by the city of Munich?

The official poster is chosen by a jury from competition entries; the winning motif advertises the festival around the world and is also printed on each year's collector's mug.

Which roast, cooked in malt beer, is the house speciality found only in Oktoberfest's Schützen-Festzelt?

Suckling pig: the marksmen's tent ranks among the smaller ones by seats, yet counting the shooting ranges built onto it, no tent on the Wiesn covers more ground.

On the Hexenschaukel, an illusion ride at Oktoberfest, what actually turns while riders feel themselves flip over?

The room around them is rotated about the swing's axle while the bench barely moves, so riders lose all sense of up and down; such illusion swings reached German fairs from the United States in 1894.

Before the big brewery halls, how were the Wiesn's wooden beer booths arranged?

In a ring: an 1825 city decree capped the beer sellers at 18, and their wooden booths formed a circle, the Wirtsbudenring, until the big brewery halls took their place in 1907.

Near which Munich landmark, home of Bavaria's parliament, does the Oktoberfest costume parade set off?

The Maximilianeum was built for a foundation for gifted students; the marchers assemble below it at the King Max II monument and wind some seven kilometres through the city to the Wiesn.

Which association organises Oktoberfest's innkeepers' entry and its costume and marksmen procession?

Festring München sets the routes, builds the grandstands and decides which of the costume, music and rifle groups applying from across Europe may take part.

Oktoberfest runs a day or two longer when which public holiday falls just after its last Sunday?

German Unity Day: when 3 October is the Monday after the last Sunday, the festival simply runs on, but when it is the Tuesday the city council has to approve the two extra days each time, as it did for 2023.

How often is the Bavarian Central Agricultural Fair scheduled to share the Oktoberfest grounds?

Every four years is the fair's cycle, and in those years the nostalgic Oide Wiesn has to make way for it; the 2020 and 2024 editions, though, were both called off.

Which structure, the only one on the meadow in 1810, stood at the heart of the early Oktoberfest?

The royal family's tent was where the court watched the prize-giving and the races; after the monarchy fell in 1918 it left an empty space, which the city filled when it redesigned the grounds in 1930.

What does the city's online 'Wiesn barometer' forecast for each day of Oktoberfest?

How crowded it will be: the colour-coded barometer was set up after tents kept having to shut their doors for overcrowding, and it steers guests towards the quieter weekdays.

The Theresienwiese lies in which Munich borough?

Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt, a central borough near the old town, holds the Theresienwiese, which despite its name is no longer a green meadow but mostly open gravel.

At what time do the big Oktoberfest beer tents stop serving on a regular evening?

10:30 pm: last orders in the big tents are called at 10:30 pm and the tents close at 11:30 pm, with only two tents licensed to serve later.

What inscription replaced brewery logos on the mugs at the Oide Wiesn?

'Münchner Bier': at the Oide Wiesn the breweries pour historic dark beers into stoneware mugs bearing that joint inscription instead of their own logos.

Which museum's exhibits fill the museum tent at the Oide Wiesn?

The Munich Stadtmuseum keeps the collection of the city's showmen's foundation, so its fairground relics, among them a replica of an old comic cycling track, go on show in the tent.

Members of which club began the Gay Sunday gatherings that grew into Oktoberfest's Rosa Wiesn?

The Münchner Löwen Club (MLC), a gay men's club, began by block-booking a tent balcony for its members; the club still reserves it every year, and thousands now join the party in the hall below.

Which sparkling wine gives its name to the LGBT gathering in the Fischer-Vroni tent on Oktoberfest's second Monday?

Prosecco: the 'Prosecco-Wiesn' is named after its founder's Prosecco bar, whose host began by reserving a few tables for his guests at the Fischer-Vroni; the gathering quickly outgrew them.

What is the Wiesn's Behördenhof, opened in 2004?

A service hub for police, fire and medical coordination: the copper-clad block on the western edge of the grounds replaced more than 100 portable cabins and houses the festival's control room.

What was the aim of the Sichere Wiesn campaign launched in 2003?

Preventing sexual violence against women and girls is the campaign's aim: three Munich associations run a Safe Space on the grounds where any woman in trouble can get help and a safe way home.

Which organisation inspects every Oktoberfest ride before the festival opens?

TÜV SÜD's temporary-structures division checks every ride before opening day, and its inspectors answer for what they miss: one was pursued for negligence after a 1996 accident.

Which ride was involved in a 1996 collision that injured 30 Oktoberfest visitors?

The Euro Star roller coaster: one train ran unbraked into another on 30 September 1996, and in 2008 the inverted coaster left Germany's fairs for good, sold to Gorky Park in Moscow.

What did Oktoberfest ban in 2016 as part of tighter security?

Backpacks and large bags have been turned away since 2016: a bag may hold three litres at most, and guards give each checked one a tag whose colour changes every day.

Which S-Bahn station near the Oktoberfest grounds takes its name from a bridge named after a Munich brewery?

Hackerbrücke station is about 650 metres from the grounds; the bridge above it, named for the Hacker brewery once at its southern end, is closed to cars on festival evenings as the crowds pour across.

Vienna's own Wiesn, first held in 2011, sets up in which famous park?

The Prater hosts it on the Kaiserwiese meadow; in 2022 the park's city-owned landlord brought in a new organiser, who renamed it the Wiener Kaiser Wiesn.

CNET's review said the 2020 series Oktoberfest 1900, about a ruthless brewer, tastes like which British drama plus beer?

Peaky Blinders was the reviewer's comparison: brewer Curt Prank, an outsider refused a licence, turns to blackmail, bribery and a contract killing to force his way onto the Wiesn.

A 1553 Bavarian decree banned brewing at which time of year, so brewers had to stock up on strong beer beforehand?

Summer: brewing was allowed only from St Michael's Day in autumn to St George's Day in April. Accounts blame the fire risk of boiling kettles and beer that soured in the heat.

Which tiny performers pulled carriages and kicked balls in a circus that came to Oktoberfest in 1948?

Fleas: the Flohcircus Birk, an act dating from the 19th century, came to the Wiesn in 1948 and was still performing there more than sixty years later, by then one of the last real flea circuses anywhere.

How was Märzen, brewed months earlier, kept from spoiling until Oktoberfest?

Stored in ice-packed cellars: brewed strong, the beer lagered for months in cellars or caves lined with ice and straw, and the last barrels were drunk up at the festival.

In which country is a lighter Märzen the most popular beer style?

Austria: there the name means almost the opposite of the Bavarian original, an everyday pale lager much like a Helles rather than a strong festival beer.

The amber Märzen first poured at Oktoberfest in 1872 was brewed in the style of which city's lager?

Vienna: Josef Sedlmayr's Franziskaner brewery made the stronger, amber beer in the Viennese manner, and it remained the festival's standard style until 1990.

Before glass took over, what were Oktoberfest's litre beer mugs made of?

Stoneware: mugs of the kind known as Keferloher held the festival's beer until, from the 1890s, glass gradually replaced them on grounds of hygiene.

On Oktoberfest's Toboggan, a tower slide there since 1933, how do riders get up to the stairs?

On a fast-moving conveyor belt: staying upright on it is the real show, and crowds gather to watch riders fresh from the beer tents tumble before they ever reach the wooden slide.

Löwenbräu's lion emblem comes from a 17th-century fresco depicting which biblical scene?

Daniel in the lions' den: the fresco hung in the brewhouse at Löwengrube ('lions' den') 17. The Brey family, who bought the brewery in 1818, built it into Munich's largest.

As of 2026, which global brewing group owns Munich's Löwenbräu?

AB InBev: Belgium's Interbrew bought the brewery's parent company in 2003 and later merged into today's multinational, so a Munich lion registered as a trademark in 1886 now has foreign owners.

Munich's Paulaner brewery is named after friars who followed which saint?

Francis of Paola founded the Order of Minims, called the Paulaner in Germany; at first the Munich friars kept their strong beer for themselves and served the public only on feast days.

Which Dutch brewer holds a minority stake in the Paulaner brewery group?

Heineken owns 30 percent of the Paulaner group, which also includes Hacker-Pschorr, so two of Oktoberfest's Munich-only beer brands are part-owned from the Netherlands.

Duke Wilhelm V founded Munich's Hofbräuhaus in 1589 to supply whom?

His court: the Hofbräuhaus began purely as the dukes' own brewery, and ordinary citizens could not eat and drink there until a royal decree opened it to the public in 1828.

Which is the only Oktoberfest brewery to pour its beer exclusively from wooden barrels?

Augustiner keeps to old ways: its festival beer is still stored and served in 200-litre wooden barrels called Hirschen, and the brewery does almost no advertising.

Who has owned most of Munich's Augustiner brewery since 1996?

A charitable foundation: Edith Haberland-Wagner left it her majority stake in her will, so that no big brewing group could buy Augustiner and break it up.

Which tool appears on the logo of Munich's Spaten brewery?

A malt shovel: Spaten is German for spade. Court brewer Gabriel Sedlmayr bought it in 1807 as Munich's smallest brewery, and by 1867 his family had made it the city's largest.

Which brewery let Carl von Linde install his first refrigeration machine in 1873?

Spaten: brewer Gabriel Sedlmayr and Linde had the machine built in Augsburg, and reliable artificial cold meant lager no longer depended on the calendar.

Joseph Pschorr, who took over Munich's Hacker brewery in 1793, married which relative of its owner?

Daughter: Joseph Pschorr wed Maria Theresia Hacker and bought the brewery from her father; their sons later ran Hacker and Pschorr as separate firms, and the names were reunited only in 1972.

What has Bavarian law banned inside Oktoberfest's beer tents since the early 2010s?

Smoking: Bavaria's rules are among the strictest in Germany and make no exception for beer tents, so most landlords have added smoking balconies or outdoor areas instead.

Which department of Munich's city government organises Oktoberfest?

Economic affairs: the Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft runs the festival as city business, and hosts, stallholders and showmen must apply to it each year for a pitch.

Roughly how tall is the bronze Bavaria statue, not counting its stone base?

18.5 metres: too big to cast in one piece, the 87-tonne bronze was poured in sections between 1844 and 1850 and assembled on a stone base almost nine metres high.

Where does the spiral staircase inside the Bavaria statue lead visitors?

Into her head: visitors climb to a small platform with four viewing hatches over the Theresienwiese, and a completely new staircase was fitted during the 2001-2002 restoration.

The Bavaria statue's head was cast from Turkish cannon salvaged after which naval battle?

Navarino: the guns went down with the Ottoman fleet in 1827, were raised and sold as scrap under Greece's King Otto, a son of Ludwig I, and some of them reached the Munich foundry.

Which Roman emperor did Ludwig I compare himself to over the giant Bavaria statue?

Nero: no statue so large had been attempted since antiquity, and Ludwig, flattered to rival the ancient rulers, wrote that only Nero and he had made anything so great.

Which Bavarian duke adopted the Reinheitsgebot across all of Bavaria in 1516?

William IV, with his brother Ludwig X, issued it at Ingolstadt after Bavaria was reunited, extending to the whole duchy a brewing rule Munich had followed since 1487.

Which three ingredients did the 1516 Reinheitsgebot permit in beer?

Water, barley and hops: yeast went unnamed although brewers knowingly used it, passing the sediment from one brew to the next; only how it worked was still a mystery.

Why did the 1516 Reinheitsgebot allow no cereal but barley in beer?

To keep bread grains for bakers: wheat and rye were reserved for bread, yet wheat beer survived because the duke later granted the noble Degenberg family a special privilege to brew it.

Which body ruled in 1987 that the Reinheitsgebot was protectionist for imported beer?

The European Court of Justice: in a 1987 case brought by the European Commission after French complaints, it ruled the ban on imported beer a trade barrier, though Germany kept applying the law to its own beer.

What does the German word Maß, the name of Oktoberfest's big beer mug, literally mean?

Measure: the Maß was Bavaria's standard measure of beer, and today's mug still carries a fill line that the beer, not the foam, must reach.

What does Munich's Verein gegen betrügerisches Einschenken campaign against at Oktoberfest?

Underfilled beer mugs: the 'association against fraudulent pouring', first founded in 1899 and revived in 1970, sends volunteers to check how far short of the mark the tents pour.

Which lederhosen feature may be a Bavarian invention that France called à la bavaroise?

The drop-front flap: the fall-front style was known in France as 'à la bavaroise', though leather breeches themselves were once worn by riders and hunters across Europe.

Which king backed teacher Joseph Vogl's 1883 drive to save Alpine folk costume?

Ludwig II gave Vogl's society his royal backing even though the Church had barred its short-trousered members from processions, and costume clubs, the Trachtenvereine, soon sprang up across Bavaria.

According to a modern tradition, an apron knot tied on a dirndl's left side signals what?

The wearer is single: a bow on the right means she is taken. The code sounds like old custom, but Miesbach's costume society calls it a recent invention with no historical basis.

Which 1930 operetta, with Munich-made folk costumes, turned the dirndl into an international fashion?

The White Horse Inn: its resolute innkeeper heroine wore a dirndl through long runs across Europe and on Broadway, where the show played 223 times.

Which family act wore dirndls at the 1936 Salzburg Festival and on world tours?

The Trapp Family Singers took a prize at a Salzburg song contest in 1936 and toured the world in folk dress; Shirley Temple's 1937 hit film Heidi fed the same craze.

Which British designer said in 2001 that ugliness would end if every woman wore a dirndl?

Vivienne Westwood said it on a 2001 visit to Austria, adding that she did not understand Austrians; a leading Austrian dirndl maker says the quote caught on and young people began to reclaim the dress.

Who is the moustachioed mascot of the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest?

Onkel Hans, a moustachioed figure in lederhosen and a feathered hat, is the mascot of Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest; his counterpart Tante Frieda wears a dirndl.

On which holiday is the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest's big parade held?

Thanksgiving: in Canada the holiday falls in October, and the Kitchener-Waterloo parade, the only major one in the country that day, is televised nationwide.

Kitchener, Ontario, whose Oktoberfest began in 1969, was named what until 1916?

Berlin: the name turned sour once Canada was at war with Germany, and a 1916 referendum replaced it with that of Lord Kitchener, Britain's war secretary.

Which future physicist is said to have screwed in light bulbs at Oktoberfest while helping his family's electrical firm?

Albert Einstein: his family's firm, J. Einstein & Cie, installed electric lighting at the festival, and he is said to have fitted bulbs in a beer tent as a helper, though accounts disagree on the year.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati claimed a world record in 1994 for the largest what?

Chicken Dance: the mass flap-along returns every year behind a celebrity leader, and in 2015 former Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson led thousands of dancers on Fountain Square.

Which dog breed competes in the costumed race held at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati?

Dachshunds and dachshund mixes sprint 75-foot heats dressed as hot dogs in the 'Running of the Wieners', a pun on their nickname, wiener dogs.

What has accompanied riders on the Krinoline, Oktoberfest's gently swaying nostalgic ride, since 1938?

A live brass band: the Krinoline was pushed round by hand into the 1930s, and when faster rides stole its crowds the owner built the musicians a small balcony.

What disaster prompted the creation of the Blumenau Oktoberfest in 1984?

A flood of the Itajaí-Açu river: a festival had been talked about since 1977, but it took the flood for the city to act, hoping to revive its economy and its morale.

Which German city hosts the Cannstatter Volksfest, often ranked second only to Oktoberfest?

Stuttgart: King Wilhelm I of Württemberg founded the Cannstatter Volksfest in 1818 to celebrate the return of good harvests, after the Tambora eruption's crop failures had left his people hungry.

Which Oktoberfest tent has a tower topped by a giant Maß of beer?

The Paulaner Festzelt was known until 2018 as the Winzerer Fähndl; it was renamed to end confusion with another tent, the home of a marksmen's guild that carries the same name.

Villa General Belgrano, a hill village founded by Germans that hosts a big Oktoberfest each year, is in which country?

Argentina: the Córdoba village is named after independence hero Manuel Belgrano, and in 1940 crewmen from the scuttled German warship Admiral Graf Spee settled there.

Which Japanese port city holds an Oktoberfest each autumn at its historic Red Brick Warehouse?

Yokohama: its Red Brick Warehouse, built as customs buildings in the early 1900s, outlasted the 1923 Kantō earthquake and now houses shops and event halls.

Which Palestinian town's brewery has hosted an Oktoberfest since 2005?

Taybeh: brothers Nadim and David Khoury came home from the Boston area after the 1993 Oslo Accords to open the brewery; Nadim had first made beer in his basement as a college student in Massachusetts.

Which Oktoberfest attraction, a spinning wooden disc riders try to stay on, dates from 1910?

The Teufelsrad ('devil's wheel') has spun at the Wiesn since 1910: riders sit on a polished rotating disc while attendants knock them off with ropes and balls to the crowd's delight.

What decorates the heart-shaped Lebkuchen sold as Oktoberfest souvenirs?

Icing messages run from affectionate to sarcastic or obscene; unlike ordinary soft Lebkuchen, the hearts are baked from a harder gingerbread.

What is Steckerlfisch, the speciality of the Fischer-Vroni tent at Oktoberfest?

A whole fish grilled on a stick, marinated and skewered upside-down beside the embers in the traditional way of a fisherman or camper; 'Steckerl' is Bavarian for a small stick.

Which Oktoberfest tent is decorated with hop vines and a figure known as the 'Angel Aloisius'?

The Hofbräu-Festzelt hangs the angel Aloisius among its hop vines: in Ludwig Thoma's satire he is sent to carry divine advice to Bavaria's government but never gets past the beer in the Hofbräuhaus.

A German national championship in which sport is held each year inside an Oktoberfest beer tent?

Crossbow: the Armbrustschützenzelt, the crossbowmen's tent of 1895, stages the German championship in an extension that drinkers in the main hall never see.

What did butcher Johann Rössler first roast whole on a spit at Oktoberfest in 1881?

An ox: Rössler ran a specially built machine to turn it and advertised 'a rare public amusement on the Theresienwiese', the start of today's Ochsenbraterei.

Which Oktoberfest tent, built like an Alpine farmhouse, is known for champagne and celebrity guests?

Käfer Wiesn Schänke began in 1971 as a chicken rotisserie with just 50 seats; today it draws celebrities and may serve until half past midnight, later than the big tents.

Which tent replaced the Hippodrom at Oktoberfest in 2014?

Marstall has stood on the Hippodrom's pitch since 2014; the name was once that of the royal riding school, and its predecessor let guests ride horses around a ring inside the tent.