PROST!

Prost Dear Reader!

This weekend I have warmed up for my visit to the original Oktoberfest in München, by going to the Deutsch-Schweizer Oktoberfest am Bodensee in Konstanz. The Konstanz Oktoberfest claims to be the third largest in Germany, with the other being Stuttgart. However, with only two beer tents and an eerily deserted fairground, one has to wonder how little the rest of Germany celebrates! Perhaps they have their own beer festivals at another time of year…

My Konstanz Oktoberfest experience was split into two very distinctive halves (I hope at some point to rectify this and have the proper experience altogether): Saturday evening and Sunday evening.

Saturday was madness and, having followed Tracht-wearing people (i.e. Dirndls and Lederhose) to the right place, we queued up to get an entrance pin. As many of us are newly registered official Konstanz residents, we were given a Gutschein by the nice people at the foreign office for the pin, which has given us free entry for the whole festival. There were people streaming everywhere and I did feel rather out of place not dressed in traditional clothing. We decided to try out the Paulaner Festhalle/Bierzelt (Beer Tent), which was jam-packed full of people dressed appropriately. Suffice to say that in jeans, we stood out like a sore thumb. Any attempt to make it near to a table was met with a cry of “NE!” as people desperately tried to save seats either for their friends or for people rightly clad. We ended up standing between the crepe stand and the toilets – possibly not the most glamorous location, but we could observe the German (and Swiss) people having a whale of a time, while we sedately drank our München-brewed beer (or apple juice if you were me).

Determined to get into the full Oktoberfest spirit for ourselves, we went again on Sunday night. The contrast could not have been more different – the place was empty, save for a few tables in the middle of the room. We sat (note, we had a whole table to ourselves – something which is unheard of at the München Oktoberfest) nervously and order a Maβ: a litre of beer served in a special glass, known as a Stein. I ordered a Radler – a mixture of beer and lemonade – and though I made very little headway with it, probably less than a wine-glass-worth, it was good fun to have around. A litre of liquid is surprisingly heavy, but despite this the Germans seem intent on waving it in the air whilst singing drunkenly to traditional Volksleider/drinking songs. Here, I was slowly initiated into the ways of Maβ drinking:
Firstly, whenever you get a new Maβ at the table, you must all chink glasses and cry “Prost!” before drinking.

Secondly, every time the music stops, you must shout “Prost!”, cheers again and then drink.
Thirdly, there are special songs devoted to yelling “Prost!” and then drinking – it is obligatory to join in with this.
Fourthly, if someone challenges you to a drinking race, you must accept. The race starts with “Prost!” and the winner is the person who drinks the segment first. The glasses are patterned with grooves, with four in each glass – thus making up the segments.
Fifthly, if you are bored/drunk/keeping time of the music/in need of attention, bang your Stein upon the table. Continue this for as long as necessary, along with rhythmic swaying, raising your hands/glasses in the air and foot banging as directed by the conductor of the band.

To further my rehearsal for the München Oktoberfest, I have also now stood on a bench and bobbed up and down a bit. In full embracing of the stereotype, Germans really do dance on their tables in Lederhose whilst drinking beer.

All I need to do now is the get the costume sorted, plus find a man willing to dance with me donned in Lederhosen, and I will achieved one of my “aims” for this year!