Going with the flow at Oktoberfest
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Munich's famous Oktoberfest is much more than beer drinking and Bavarian food, it also involves lots of foot-stomping and hand clapping -- as one lucky Indonesian man found out at this country's version of the event.
The Garmisch Partenkirchener Band from Bavaria livened up the venue at the Aryaduta Hotel Jakarta on Saturday with live music and jokes. It invited an Indonesian man up on stage to teach him how to give the schuhplatter, or traditional Bavarian greeting, a lively rhythmical performance that is almost a dance.
Visitors of different nationalities sat elbow to elbow along long wooden tables arranged in the hotel ballroom, neatly decorated with Bavarian blue-and-white check motifs, occasionally standing up to sing a drinking song and to yell the apparently most favorite word: 'Prost!' or cheers.
"It's about socializing ... a cultural experience," hotel general manager Roger Lienhard said.
The hotel, German flag-carrier Lufthansa Airlines and local beer producer Bintang organized the Oktoberfest celebration on Friday and Saturday.
The bombing outside the Australian Embassy on Sept. 9 did little to affect the attendance of the event but there were also tight security checks.
About 1,200 people visted the festival in two days, a slight decrease on last year, Lienhard said.
"(But) life has to go on, we cannot be stagnant ... We have to get along," Lienhard said.
His jovial audience seemed to agree.
Only happy faces were seen in the big room decorated to give the guests the atmosphere of the festzelt or the big beer tent used in Germany.
In their home town, Muncheners set up huge tents, each large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, in the Theresienweisse (or the fields of Therese), located in heart of the city.
The annual festival, one of the largest folk festivals in the world, began in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Bavaria's Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. As a tribute, the festival site was named after Princess Therese.
The festival is always exuberant and boisterous, especially when tipsy residents rise up in drinking songs.
Though Oktoberfest was originally held in October, as the name suggests, to avoid the icy cold and an early snowfall the three- week-long folk festival is now held in September.
"Although there are some differences with the Oktoberfest back home, the event here is much better because everyone gets more culinary variety in one package -- there are plenty of snacks to eat along with the beer.
"It's in line with our objective, which is to provide people an experience of European culture," Lienhard said.