Oktoberfest and the Joyful Giving of our Pledge

The first Oktoberfest took place on October 12, 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In celebration of this, the startling innovation was proposed ¹, that the ordinary people of Munich be invited to join in the festivities. These were then held just outside the city gates in fields that were subsequently named Theresienwiese (“Therese’s Meadow”) in honor of the bride, a name that still endures –though sometimes shortened to “Wiesn”.​

So successful were these proceedings that they were repeated the following year,  with the addition of an agricultural show organized by the Bavarian Agricultural Association. Thus was born the tradition that has continued ever since without interruption save in times of war and major disease.  

While the horse racing had been the main attraction originally things soon expanded. Carnival booths with prizes of silver, porcelain, and jewelry appeared in 1816 and the first carousels and swings in 1818. By 1835, a parade honoring King Ludwig I and Queen Therese became a feature, and by 1850 this involved 8,000 people in traditional costumes marching from Maximilian Street through Munich to the Oktoberfest grounds.​

But was there not something missing here, namely the beer?  Curious though this might now seem, while beer would undoubtedly have been present from the first,  it was only in the late 19th century that it became a central focus (along with roasted chicken curiously enough, which first made an appearance in 1851).  A key moment in this transition came in 1896 when small beer stands were replaced by large brewery-sponsored beer tents complete with musicians.  And it is these massive tents, which can seat thousands of people, became the heart of the modern Oktoberfest  Today, only beer brewed within Munich’s city limits and in strict accordance with the Bavarian Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) can be served.²

But what also about the German sausages?   The history of bratwurst goes back much further than 1810 as the first written evidence of the bratwurst’s existence is believed to come from Nuremberg in 1313, a city in Germany’s Franconia region. However, there is intense debate around the exact origins, as the people in the German region of Thüringen, make claims supported by a list of ingredients for making the sausage that dates back 600 years.

Thus did an event which first started as a single afternoon of horse racing in celebration of a royal wedding, become transformed over time into a multi-week, internationally celebrated festival. A festival that is now one of the world’s largest, attracting over 6 million visitors annually and with festival grounds that feature 14 major beer tents, some with capacities exceeding 10,000 people.​

But why do we have such a celebration here at the Advent?

The answer is twofold. First because the festival does actually have strong Christian connections. Second, because this is a very fitting time to celebrate the riches of our own heritage as we think through how we should best use our resources for the coming year.  And we do this knowing that there are practical commitments entailed by our Christian faith as lived out in this parish.

While much of the modern festival in Germany is very secular, the festival does in fact have strong Christian connections, even if these are rooted more in its historical origins and cultural context rather than much the present mode of celebration.

King Ludwig I, whose marriage occasioned the first festival, was notably devout and became one of Bavaria’s most religiously committed monarchs. 

During his reign, Ludwig I worked actively to revive Catholic spiritual life in Bavaria by founding and restoring numerous monasteries—approximately 130 monastic communities were newly established or re-established under his patronage. He founded Saint Boniface Abbey in Munich in 1835 specifically to revive Roman Catholic spiritual life after many monasteries had been destroyed or repurposed during the German Mediatization period from 1802 to 1814.³ The foundation stone for this abbey was laid on October 12, 1835—the 25th wedding anniversary of Ludwig and Therese, directly connecting it to the Oktoberfest commemorative date.​

Ludwig I also commissioned the construction of Ludwigskirche, a magnificent Catholic parish and university church on Munich’s Ludwigstrasse, completed in 1844. The king felt such strong identification with this church that he named its six bells after himself, his wife Therese, and their four children. His religious policy aimed to strengthen the Catholic faith through church construction, lifting bans on religious customs and traditions, and reviving the monastic system.​

Oktoberfest is thus still embedded in Bavaria’s distinctly Christian culture and heritage. Bavaria has maintained a long and predominant tradition of Roman Catholic faith, which fundamentally shapes its traditions and culture in ways that still set it apart from the rest of Germany. The late Pope Benedict XVI was born in Bavaria and served as Cardinal-Archbishop of Munich and Freising and the region is home to important Marian shrines including that of Altötting, which is considered Bavaria’s spiritual heart. 

Currently, the most explicit Christian element in the modern Oktoberfest is the annual ecumenical church service held on the first Thursday of the festival.⁴ The service commemorates festival workers who have died over the past year and also includes baptisms, first communions, and confirmations for children of showmen and carnival workers.  All this reflects the fact that the traveling carnival community which does much that is central to the festivities continues to maintain an active Christian faith.​

And it is this aspect that makes it entirely fitting for this parish to have a parallel celebration at a time of year when the summer is over and we begin to give thanks for the year that is past as we come towards Thanksgiving itself.  Moreover, this is when we think too of the theme of stewardship and how we manage and spend the life and resources God has given us.  

We do indeed have much to celebrate and to share,  which is exactly the time when it is appropriate to think about what we give back and how we can best support the advance of God’s Kingdom in and through the expanding work and outreach of this parish. Hence our own tradition of collecting and renewing our pledges to the Parish for the coming year at this time!

It is fitting to conclude by remembering,  as we shall tonight,  that Bavaria’s Catholic tradition includes formal blessings for beer in the local  Rituale Romanum  including the words that follow:​

“Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, which thou hast deigned to produce from the fat of grain: that it may be a salutary remedy to thy people and grant through the invocation of thy holy name; that, whoever shall drink it, may gain health in body and peace in soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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1. Either by Andreas Michael Dall’Armi, a Major in the Bavarian National Guard, or a royal coachman named Franz Baumgartner (the point was later disputed).

2. This law forbids any ingredients other than water hops and barley, albeit with a resulting beer that has an unusually high alcohol content of approximately 6%.​  This law itself was first promulgated in Bavaria, Germany’s most prodigious brewing region, on 23rd April 1516, at the behest of its then ruler, Duke Wilhelm IV and it was only applied in the duchy, electorate and then Kingdom of Bavaria until 1906  when it was imposed across Germany as a whole as a condition of Bavaria joining the then unifying German state.b

3. During this time nearly all the ecclesiastical principalities and free imperial cities, as well as most minor secular principalities and other self-ruling entities that had all been part of the Holy Roman Empire lost their independent status and were absorbed by the remaining states. By the end of the mediatisation process, the number of German states had been reduced from almost 300 to 39. 

4. This tradition began in 1956 when Father Heinz Peter Schönig, head of the Catholic Circus and Festival Workers’ Chaplaincy, organized the first service.​  This now takes place at 9:30 AM in the Marstall Festzelt (tent) and is conducted by both Catholic and Protestant clergy, making it ecumenical. While primarily aimed at festival workers—showmen, market sellers, landlords, and their families—the service is open to all Oktoberfest visitors and those attending the church service receive early access to the festival grounds.​