Oktoberfest is a holiday that is celebrated in Munich Bavaria for 16 days prior to the first Sunday in October.

This large festival started out as a wedding celebration. On October 12th 1810 all of the citizens of Munich were invited to attend the wedding of Prince Ludwig to Princess Theresa of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The celebration was held on the fields in front of the city gates, which later became known as "Theresa's fields" or Theresienweise. On this occasion they held a horse race for the royals, and the people enjoyed it so much that they had the horse race the following year.

In 1811 the annual horse race added a new feature of an agricultural show. They hopes this would help out the Bavarian agriculture. In the next few decades new attractions came to Oktoberfest like carousels and a fun-fair. But, in 1896 the most famous part of the festival was added, the beer tents.

Presently Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world. Every year 6 million visitors from around the world come to participate in the Festivities. In 1999 this will be the 166th Oktoberfest ever held.