Outside Reading The History of the Oktoberfest

After taking a few years of German, and having mini Oktoberfests, I thought reading about the history of this widely celebrated holiday would be very interesting. Modern day Oktoberfests consist of games, food, beer, beer, and more beer. The two words, "Oktober" (October) and "fest" both have the same meaning in English, obviously being a festival in October. Oktoberfest started out as a celebration for marriage of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. It was celebrated with horse races, but also, too boost German agriculture, the sampling of many different brews. It was such a hit they decided to have a festival each year. The king was married on 12th October 1810, so that's how Oktoberfest got the "Oktober" part of the name. I've always enjoyed German food and German traditions, so reading about the largest, and very well known German holiday, was extremely enjoyable. Along with having taken German for a couple years, my paternal side of the family has a significantly strong German heritage, so this article has extra interest to me.

http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Oktoberfest/History/136868/03history.html