The Oktoberfest Trachten Parade

Trachten (pl. noun):  traditional German, especially Bavarian, clothing. 

 For women a (cleavage-enhancing) dress called a Dirndl, usually worn with a white blouse underneath and a colored silk apron.  (Tying the apron bow in front of one hip or the other indicates whether or not you are married.)

For men Lederhosen (leather pants, either knee length or shorts), usually worn with wool socks, white shirt, vest or janker (wool jacket), and felt hat.

Oktoberfest is here!  Funny enough, the 16-day festival-of-beer is mostly in September; apparently the rule is that it encompass two Sundays in September and one in October.  It started last Saturday with the first parade which is essentially called "Arrival of the beer-tent patrons" since this is when the many different breweries decorate their traditional horse-drawn keg-laden beer wagons and parade them through downtown on their way to the "Wiesn" (the field where Oktoberfest occurs).  We did not go to that first parade, mostly since it was raining, but also since the second parade on Sunday is supposed to be the most spectacular.

  And indeed it was.  Sunday's weather was perfect for a parade -- bright, clear and mild.  We got there a little before it started, around 10:45 and already the streets were lined with several rows of viewers (themselves often in trachten).   We ended up on a wide street, which turned out to be a little "detour" part of the parade route, which was good in that it meant we saw each group coming toward us on the far side of the street and then again closer to us after they had turned around.  (There was one 10-horse carriage -- must have been interesting for them to turn around.)

The parade was  remarkably colorful with all the costumes from the various regions of Bavaria.  Each region has its own typical style and color of clothing (similar to Scottish clans I guess) and most every region had a brass marching band .

Even though it was crowded, we were able to get a few good pictures (since Thomas is tall), and luckily Benjamin squeezed through a forest of legs and sat  cross-legged in front with a bunch of other kids.  There are stands set up in places along the route, but you need to pay 35 Euro ($45ish) to sit there, so we stood for a couple hours!

Of course the breweries can't resist the chance to parade their beer wagons again:  there are hundreds of breweries in Munich alone, but the "Big Six" each have several wagons in the parade.  (If you're interested, see here for info about the Munich big six breweries.)  Here are a few of the the beer wagons, decorated with fresh flowers and pulled by at least four (also decorated) horses.

But wait, if you are thirsty while you watch, obviously you should be able to buy a beer (at ever corner along the parade route... at 10 am.)

As well as beer wagons and marching bands, we saw Alp horns, beautiful horse-drawn carriages, costumes of every color, farmers marching with traditional tools, and bands of "hunting clubs" (complete with dead boar...)

I think the bands were my favorite (and Julia now says she wants to play her trombone in one!)

Check out the men's hats below:  those are "Gamsbart" decorations, made of mountain goat beard (yes, hairs from a mountain goat's neck).  They traditionally signified the "manliness" and hunting ability of the wearer, but are also a sign of wealth.  Fine specimens like these are apparently worth a couple thousand Euros each...

The parade had 60 groups in it, but after 30-some (and two hours) we decided to head to the Augustiner (brewery) restaurant nearby before it got too crowded for lunch.

(Julia wore her Dirndl for the day...)

Of course we had a to have the traditional Bavarian "breakfast" of Munich Weißwurst (yum!) with sweet mustard and soft pretzels.  It's also essentially required that you drink a Weißbier with these sausages.

 I don't usually drink before, what, 5 p.m., but hey, this was the start of Oktoberfest!