A hot summer and just for the equally longed-for Wiesn: a sudden fall in the weather. The guests don’t let it spoil their mood. After a two-year break, we celebrate. Without masks as always – and yet it’s different.
Hours of waiting in front of the entrances, rush to the beer tents, happy faces, people singing and dancing exuberantly. Oktoberfest again at last. After two festivals canceled due to the corona virus, the motto on Saturday is: Ozapft is.
Although it is cold and wet and there is no trace of the traditional Wiesn late summer, the crowds are flocking. Long queues form in front of the tents as early as midday, after the tapping in the early afternoon several tents were closed: closed due to overcrowding. “It’s as if nothing had happened,” says almond seller Manfred Ziegler.
Everything seems as usual at this folk festival, often called the largest in the world. And yet it is different. Because beyond the festival grounds, the world is different than at the last Wiesn in 2019: inflation, war, energy crisis – and even if the Oktoberfest is celebrated without any corona requirements: the pandemic is not over.
Beery oblivion
The number of infections regularly rose sharply after the folk festivals – everyone, from science to politics, expects that, even after the Wiesn. But in the tents, beery oblivion seems to be the order of the day.
Corona protective masks are the absolute exception, dense crowds, the jugs clink – you get closer and closer. “Cordula green” is howled, the Wiesn hit from the pre-pandemic good old days. Hendl are dragged to the tables in chords – while animal welfare activists outside have just tried to stop the Wiesn hosts from entering the festival grounds.
Prime Minister Markus Söder, with his wife Karin Baumüller-Söder in the tapping box, accuses them of spoiling the game. “There’s always someone who wants to spoil the fun.” And he adds with a view to the song “Layla”, which is controversial because of sexism: “This whole ban discussion, which is annoying. Wokeness may be interesting, but if it’s exaggerated, then it’s stuffy. And the Wiesn is everything but stuffy. “
Söder: “I’ll eat a chicken.”
The Oktoberfest is a “festival of joy and freedom”. Everyone should wear and eat what they want, says Söder. “I’ll eat a chicken.” He had always spoken out in favor of the Wiesn. “We have such difficult times behind us and, I fear, still so difficult ahead of us. It is then all the more important to recharge your batteries,” says the CSU boss.
One who critics like to accuse of being too strict and having something against fun is Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD). “I don’t want to be a spoilsport: But anyone who visits the Wiesn should still be careful,” he says, advising those who have been ill not to visit and calling for testing.
Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD), who only gave the green light for the Wiesn in the spring after careful consideration and also had a deal with Söder about it, now says: “It was a good decision and I’m happy that we made it. ” He’s also happy “that people are in a good mood,” he says – and taps the first barrel.
Nothing can be felt from the repeatedly invoked restraint, says festival director Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU). “On the contrary: an overcrowded tent.”
Outside, beyond the festival grounds, there is also a different mood. Some people in Munich are not enthusiastic about the folk festival, which before the pandemic attracted a good six million guests, some of whom had traveled far from abroad. Because the predicted corona wave after the festival does not only hit folk festival visitors.
“Ogstuck is”
In the end it will say “Ogsteckt is”, speculates a user on the Internet, where “Omikronfest 2022” is also mentioned. Another writes: “The concentrated unreasonableness and inconsistency of German Corona policy now accumulates in the #Oktoberfest.”
It is well known that the cold makes it even easier for viruses – and this year the almost traditional Munich Oktoberfest late summer will also be missing at the start of the Wiesn: wet cold, the temperature fluctuates by an uncomfortable ten degrees.
Marianne Hartl, who came to the tapping with her husband Michael, calls the return to the Wiesn “an indescribable feeling”. “It’s not a matter of course. People appreciate that we can all be back,” she says, speaking of “great gratitude”. Going through the Wiesn was the right decision. “It has to go on.”
Regular guest Günter Werner (79) also seems to see it that way: After the long Corona break, he is sitting in his regular place on this Saturday as always. This time, too, he made reservations for every single day of the Wiesn, as he has done for over 60 years. With fresh hops and new pheasant feathers on his hat, he says: “The anticipation is huge – I’ve had Corona, and if I get it again, then I’ll get it.”