Going with the flow at Oktoberfest
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.