The other quite strong tradition is opening gigantic beer tent pavilions. Every year they are fixed in number. Fourteen tents make core reason of the fest. First they appeared in 1896. The largest one belongs to Hofbrauhaus and welcomes eleven thousand guests. Besides that number of actual seat since every respectful German prefers to drink being seated. And only if all the seats are occupied they can gather inside standing and enjoying bitterest taste of malt wonder.
Every pavilion has its peculiarities. Thus Augustiner-Festhalle designed for ten thousand people the beer is served in wooden butts and is prepared by monks and under unique recipe. In Schottenhamel there are seats for six thousand passionate and wild students. Close to the oldest Brauhaus Armbrustschutzenzelt one can master archery and practise in shooting gallery for fourteen targets. And Winzerer Fahndi welcomes families with children since it famous for its snug and homely peaceful atmosphere.
One can buy beer not only in those pavilions but also in other numerous places. Within the festival the whole city emerges into beer fest atmosphere. Huge amounts of open air Biergarten are spread all over the places so one can easily find exactly what he or she wants. Beer is usually served by waitresses dressed in national costumes. One can wonder at their stamina and resistance since every one of them has to carry up to 3-4 jars (or mass) of beer one litre each at once and serve kilometres of table rows. Curious is that within October sixteen-day-beer-marathon guests carry away up to seventy thousand beer jars, or masses, as sweet remembrance of the festival.
Notwithstanding the fact that beer is sold purely for adults, children are never get bored on such festivals. It is a tradition. Plenty of carousels, marry-go-rounds, ice-cream booths and other sweets and toys make children come annually with their parents and have fun with the prospects of visiting those places again but as official beer drinkers in future. Children are entertained as well and attend abundance of different shows, and get luminant toys. But those toys, hats and other gleaming accessories are not only for children. Traditionally many adults get them for themselves since in the whirlpool of the festival it is very easy to get lost in the dark and luminous lights help for police officers to identify drunk and sleepy guests and escort them to special tents until their friends or families would ask for them.
It is calculated that during that sixteen-days’ insane drinking seven million litres of beer are drunken and that is not a limit that number grows from year to year, 1.5 million of roasted chicken and worsts are eaten together with 84 bulls. The beers supplied by German Brauhauser are sold in more than 650 beer places in October. Annually additional 363 souvenir shops are opened, and about 200 entertainment units are welcoming its visitors. Munich is flooded with seven-million-tourist crowd all over the planet. Thus, Oktoberfest is registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the major and most pompous festival of the world.
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