Germany's Oktoberfest Celebrates 200th Anniversary

Germans, dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes, toast with beer during the opening day of the 200th edition of Oktoberfest. Photo by ctpost.com

The biggest beer festival in the world, Oktoberfest, which marks its 200th anniversary in 2010, is opening Saturday.

The 16-day German festival gathers about 6 million people every year and many of them are dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes.

This year's edition of Oktoberfest will continue from September 18 to October 4 and it will be a spectacular event, the organizers have announced. It will be longer with one day because of the anniversary.

The Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 as a way of celebrating the marriage of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to the Saxon-Hildburghausen Princess Therese on October 12. The citizens of Munich were invited to join the festivities on the fields in front of the city gates.

Five days later, on October 17 were organized horse races.  The event was carried out shortly before the beginning of the new season for beer brewing, which gave people the opportunity to drink all the beer that had been left from the previous year.

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