What Are the Origins of Oktoberfest? 

For three weekends in late September and early October, Munich’s Oktoberfest—the world’s biggest beer and folk festival—welcomes millions of visitors to drink, dance and celebrate Bavarian culture. Yet the origins of Oktoberfest trace back not to beer halls, but to a royal wedding. When Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen in 1810, Munich officials marked the union with days of horse races, public feasting and music. The celebration was such a hit that the city repeated it the following year, planting the seeds for Oktoberfest. 

Over more than two centuries, that one-off wedding party blossomed into a raucous tradition where brass oompah bands blare, amusement rides whirl and millions of gallons of beer flow alongside pretzels, bratwurst and strudel. “One part of the festival is beer tents, but the other is the stores, food and rides,” says Benedikt Brandmeier, director of Munich Tourism, Events and Hospitality. “It’s really the combination of it all that shapes the festival.” 

Today, Oktoberfest not only fuels Bavarian pride, but also continues its founding mission: uniting people from across the region—and now the world—through culture, food and of course, beer.

Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese exchanged vows on October 12, 1810. The next day festivities began at Munich’s Max-Joseph-Platz, the grand square opposite the royal Residenz palace. Officials handed out beer and food to citizens, while illuminated buildings set the stage for revelry, says Brandmeier. 

By October 17, tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the city gates in open fields. After children wearing traditional Bavarian folk costumes read out poems and presented fruits and flowers, the grounds were officially christened Theresienswiese (Theresa’s Meadow) after the princess, a name that endures today.

“A lot of working class people were invited to participate, which was not typical at the time,”  says Michael O’Sullivan, professor of history at Marist College. “In the early 19th century, not everybody who lived in Bavaria spoke the same language or connected with the Wittelsbach royal family. They needed to create a sense of identity about what it meant to be Bavarian and create bonds between the royal family and its subjects.”

To cap off the festivities, horse races were staged on the newly christened meadow, captivating the crowds. Andreas Michael Dall'Armi, a member of the Bavarian National Guard, is credited with proposing and organizing the races—earning him recognition as the founder of Oktoberfest. 

The first Oktoberfest proved so popular among Munich’s citizens that they clamored for an encore the very next year. This time, however, the royal family stepped back and Bavarian farmers took the reins, says Brandmeier. They used the occasion to showcase the region’s bounty—hops, wheat, barley, cereals, fruits and vegetables—boosting both pride and the local economy. “Bavaria is a very agrarian place, even more so at that time,” says Robert Terrell, associate professor of history at Syracuse University. Even today nearly half of Bavaria’s land remains devoted to agriculture, and every four years, the Bavarian Central Agricultural Fair coincides with Oktoberfest. 

Over the following decade, the festival expanded beyond food and drink. Merry-go-rounds, swings and carousels delighted revelers and by 1819 the city of Munich had taken over official organization. The late 19th and early 20th centuries ushered in even more attractions: the first roast chicken stand in 1885, eclectic stage performers, electrically powered carnival rides and, in 1909, the debut of the world’s first transportable figure-8 roller coaster.

In the late 1890s, officials nudged Oktoberfest’s start date to late September, chasing warmer, longer days. “The weather is far more stable in September, so they shifted it back two weeks,” says Brandmeier. 

Around the same time, the sight of traditional Bavarian garments became more prominent at the festival. Lederhosen, once worn by German elites on hunting trips, began appearing in the 1880s and ’90s. Still, as O’Sullivan points out, they remained niche until the last 40 years. “Most people were in jeans and T-shirts. Only old people wore lederhosen. Now you go around Munich and people are wearing it for their birthdays, weddings, family reunions and so many people at the festival wear it.” 

Not every tradition endured. The original horse race disappeared, except for special anniversary celebrations. And across its long history, the overall festival has been canceled some two dozen times—during wars, cholera epidemics (in 1854 and 1875), rampant inflation in the early 1920s and, most recently, during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. In 1980, tragedy struck when a bomb exploded at the festival entrance, killing 13 and injuring 200. 

Yet through hardship and loss, Oktoberfest has only grown stronger. In 2023, 7.2 million guests flocked to Munich over 18 jubilant days—gathering, just as they did in 1810, on the same Theresienswiese meadow where it all began.

While Munich’s royal family handed out free beer to citizens at Max-Joseph-Platz in 1810, alcohol wasn’t part of the horse races that took place five days later on Theresenswiese, says Brandmeier. The first beer stalls weren’t introduced there until 1815, and for the next 80 years, beer was served only in small wooden huts.

By the 1890s, things changed. Munich innkeepers teamed up with breweries to replace huts with massive tents—nicknamed “beer castles”—big enough to hold thousands, says Brandmeier. These new halls featured live brass bands, endless refills and the festive atmosphere that would come to define Oktoberfest.

During Oktoberfest, only beer from Munich’s six traditional breweries—Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten—is allowed to be sold. Each still brews according to the Reinheitsgebot, the beer purity law of 1516, which limited beer to three ingredients: water, barley and hops. The rule ensured wheat and rye could be reserved for breadmaking. Though the law was repealed in 1987, these breweries still adhere to it—both out of tradition and because, they insist, it makes their beer taste better. 

The classic beer of Oktoberfest is the Märzen, named after the German word for March. After a 1553 Bavarian brewing ordinance banned beer production between April 23 and September 29—when the summer heat was thought to spoil it—brewers made a stronger beer in March that would be stored and aged in a lager cellar until fall, says Brandmeier. By the time October arrived, it had matured into a rich, malty brew—perfect for autumn festivities.

While this regulation predates Oktoberfest itself, says Terrell, the popularity of Märzen helped shape the festival’s identity. “The demand for that style of beer created an excitement around the event that can still be felt today.”