All roads lead to Germany as it is the season again for its famous Oktoberfest as it kicked off last Saturday, September 19. Over 6 million people were expected to rave and party in the world's largest and oldest beer festival in the world.
The 16-day event started last Saturday as mayor Dieter Reiter opened the event by taking a drink from the first barrel of beer. The first of many that would be expected to flood throughout the festival, that would last until the 4th of October. The event would still commence amidst the current migrant crisis the European Union is experiencing because of the flow of Syrian refugees fleeing war to find home to its neighboring countries in Europe.
More than 20,000 refugees have already found their place to stay for the past two weeks. Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have chosen Germany and were welcomed with overflowing donations and help in Munich for the past two weeks. Thought the number has died down a bit lately, officials have been taking additional precautions regarding the conservative views of the refugees that would clash with the means of the festival, adding 500 officers at the event to separate the party goers from the refugees.
The traditional Bavarian festival has held its annual beer drinking feast for more than 200 years and was an important part of their culture. Millions of liters of beers are consumed with more than 20% of the people coming from abroad annually just to take part of this big event.
This year marked the 182nd year as it has been cancelled for a number of times throughout the years. Tourists wore traditional Bavarian clothes for men and women, and beers are available for about 10 euros each due to the demand of the festival over the years.
The festival would be held in Theresienwiese as it had been annually.
