Oktoberfest

Lore & Background

Munich officials invited the public to celebrate on fields outside the city walls, and the site was named Theresienwiese the following year. The first festival featured a horse race modelled on the medieval Scharlachrennen, proposed by Major Andreas Michael Dall'Armi, though coachman Franz Baumgartner later claimed credit. Baumgartner's horse won, and he received a gold medal from Minister of State Maximilian von Montgelas. The opening was moved into late September to take advantage of warmer evenings. Oktoberfest is the world's largest Volksfest, combining a beer festival with a fun fair. It draws around seven million visitors annually, with a record 7.2 million in 2023, who consumed approximately 7.4 million litres of beer. The festival features amusement rides, games, food stalls, and traditional Bavarian dishes. Since 1850, an annual costume and marksmen parade has marched to the Theresienwiese, led by the Münchner Kindl mascot. The bronze Bavaria statue was erected in 1850. The festival was cancelled for cholera epidemics in 1854 and 1873, and during the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars. In 1910, the centenary saw about 120,000 litres of beer consumed. The Nazi regime used the festival for propaganda from 1933, barring Jewish people from working at the Wiesn. The festival was suspended during World War II, with a modest Autumn Fest held from 1946 to 1948. Since 1950, the Mayor of Munich opens Oktoberfest with a 12-gun salute and the cry "O'zapft is!". A 1980 pipe bomb near the main entrance killed 13 and injured over 225. In 2005, a "quiet Oktoberfest" limited tents to traditional brass music until 18:00 with volume capped at 85 dB. A Bavarian smoking ban made the festival smoke-free from 2011. The 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reader's Guide

Oktoberfest’s significance stems from its dual identity as both a beer festival and a fun fair, drawing around seven million visitors annually. In 2023, attendance hit a record 7.2 million, with approximately 7.4 million litres of beer consumed. The event’s behaviour and ecology are rooted in longstanding traditions: the mayor opens the festival by tapping the first keg and declaring “It’s tapped!”, followed by a twelve-gun salute. The annual costume and marksmen parade, featuring about 8,000 participants led by the Münchner Kindl mascot, has marched since 1850. The festival’s core offerings—amusement rides, games, food stalls, and traditional Bavarian dishes—are complemented by a “quiet Oktoberfest” rule introduced in 2005, limiting tents to traditional brass music until 18:00 with a volume cap of 85 dB. A full smoking ban took effect in 2011. The festival’s endurance over two centuries, despite cancellations for wars, cholera epidemics, hyperinflation, the 1980 bombing that killed 13, and the COVID-19 pandemic, underscores its resilience. Its influence extends beyond Bavaria: a Greek delegation in 1832 cited it as a model for the Zappas Olympics, precursors to the modern Olympic Games. The exclusive serving of Munich-brewed beer, the opening parade dating to 1887, and the bronze Bavaria statue erected in 1850 all reinforce its role as a global symbol of Bavarian festival culture.

Did You Know?

• The unofficial sport of Oktoberfest is Masskrugstemmen, in which competitors hold a filled one-liter mug with an outstretched arm for as long as they can.

Roots in Survival and Gratitude

The earliest recorded Thanksgiving observance on the North American continent traces back to 1579, when explorer Martin Frobisher's fleet of fifteen vessels limped into Newfoundland after a failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage. His third voyage had aimed at establishing a small settlement near Frobisher Bay on what is now Baffin Island in Nunavut, but ice destroyed one ship and scattered the rest through freak storms. When the survivors regrouped, a clergyman named Mayster Wolfall delivered a sermon urging the crew to give thanks for their strange and miraculous deliverance, followed by a celebration of Holy Communion. Historians note, however, that Spanish missionaries had performed similar services in Spanish North America decades earlier, complicating any claim of primacy. Decades later, French settlers who arrived with Samuel de Champlain beginning in 1604 organized their own feasts of gratitude through a group called the Order of Good Cheer. Though some accounts suggest local Indigenous peoples may have joined these gatherings, that detail remains apocryphal and likely conflated with the well-known American Thanksgiving narrative.

From Variable Observance to National Statute

For much of its early history, Canadian Thanksgiving lacked a fixed calendar date. After the holiday was first made official on November 6, 1879, the specific day shifted from year to year, though the second Monday in October became the most common choice. The two Canadas even celebrated on entirely different days; in 1816, Lower Canada marked the occasion on May 21 while Upper Canada waited until June 18, coinciding with Waterloo Day. By 1838, Lower Canada repurposed the day to honour the end of its rebellion, and after the two provinces merged into a single Province of Canada, Thanksgiving was observed six times between 1850 and 1865 as a solemn mid-week event. The modern fixed date was cemented on January 31, 1957, when Governor General Vincent Massey issued a formal proclamation designating the second Monday in October as a Day of General Thanksgiving, thanking Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada had been blessed. Today the holiday holds statutory status across most of the country, though in the Atlantic provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick it remains optional. Federally regulated industries in telecommunications and banking, however, observe it universally.

The Harvest Table and Church Traditions

Rooted in the liturgical harvest festivals of Britain and continental Europe, Canadian Thanksgiving carries a distinctly ecclesiastical flavour. Churches across the country adorn their interiors with cornucopias, pumpkins, ears of corn, and sheaves of wheat, transforming the space into a visual celebration of agricultural abundance. The holiday itself falls on a Monday, yet families typically gather for their feast on any day of the long weekend, with Sunday being the most popular choice. The table reflects both the legacy of Loyalist refugees who fled the American Revolution and carried New England customs—turkey, pumpkin, squash—into the provinces that became Canada, and the diverse regional produce of the country. Standard dishes include roasted turkey, roast beef, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, rutabagas, sweet corn, an array of autumn vegetables such as various squashes and Brussels sprouts, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and glazed yams. Regional variations add their own character: salmon and wild game appear in coastal and rural communities, while Jiggs dinner with split-pea pudding, butter tarts, and Nanaimo bars round out the spread in other parts of the country.

Community Festivals and the CFL Classic

Beyond the family table, Canadian Thanksgiving has grown into a canvas for community celebration and civic pride. In the week surrounding the holiday, towns and cities host a variety of public events. The Markham Fair stages an annual agricultural and harvest festival on the weekend immediately before Thanksgiving, while Kitchener-Waterloo's Oktoberfest features a parade of floats, local civic figures, performance troupes, and marching bands. In Fort Langley, a widely attended neighbourhood festival honours the cranberry harvest, with stalls selling local crafts, fresh produce, and artisan goods. The holiday also anchors a major moment in Canadian professional sport. The Canadian Football League schedules its Thanksgiving Day Classic on the Monday afternoon, making it one of only two weeks in the season when games are played on a Monday, the other being the Labour Day Classic. What was once a doubleheader has been reduced since 2022 to a single matchup, with the Montreal Alouettes permanently hosting the Ottawa Redblacks. Looking ahead, the CFL has announced that beginning in 2027 the Thanksgiving Day Classic will serve as the final game or games of the regular season, elevating its significance in the league calendar.

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