The Oktoberfest, is the largest food and beer festival held in the world. This sixteen-day festival is held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and runs into early October (i.e., tentatively between Sept 19th – Oct 3rd). This 195-year-old festival is one of the oldest and most famous events in the city. Technically speaking, Oktoberfest is the world's largest fair, with approximately six million people attending every year. This fair is an important part of Bavarian culture as it has its roots tied in German religion and owes much of its heritage to the Catholic Church. The history of the first Oktoberfest dates back to the year 1810, which was held in Munich to celebrate the marriage of Prince Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The tradition of ending the festival with a horse race was also initiated with this maiden celebration. The German descendants religiously carried this magnificent tradition forward and in the year 1910, Oktoberfest celebrated its 100th anniversary. A humongous amount of about 120,000 liters of beer were poured. Even though the War years prevented the celebration of the Oktoberfest, owing to large scale war, destruction and inflation, the festival was revived soon after the War ended and normalcy was resumed.

A special Oktoberfest beer is brewed for the occasion, which is slightly darker in color and stronger, both in terms of taste and the alcohol content. Only local Munich breweries are allowed to serve this beer in beer tents called Bierzelte. These astonishingly large tents can hold up to 10,000 people at a single time. The six local Munich breweries that are allowed to serve beer at Oktoberfest are; Lowenbrau, Spaten, Augustiner, Hofbrau, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr. Visitors also consume large quantities of food, which mostly comprises traditional German food items, including sausage, chicken, cheese noodles and sauerkraut, along with Bavarian mouth-watering delights, such as, roast ox tails. Apart from the beer the food and the overwhelming crowds, the Oktoberfest is also known for the unique tents it displays throughout the festival area. The tents add color and vibrancy to the festival. There are currently fourteen main tents at the Oktoberfest. These semi-permanent structures are only displayed and occupied during the festival. The beer served in each tent is displayed at the entrance of every tent along with the tents name. In the year 1913, the tent named Bräurosl was founded, which was a record-setting beer tent in terms of it's capacity and could hold about 12,000 guests in it at a time. These tents had the following names: Hippodrom, Armbrustschutzenzelt, Hofbrau Festzelt, Schottenhammel, Winzerer Fahndl, Schutzen-Festhalle, Kafers Wiesen Schanke, Weinzelt, Lowenbrau-Festhalle, Braurosl, Augustiner-Festhalle, Ochsenbraterei and Fischer Vroni.

Other countries across the world, like, the European Union (EU) countries and other non-European countries, including the United States, Japan, Brazil and Australia also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, taking their inspiration from the Munich event. In many parts of the globe, this festival has been carried and founded by German immigrants or their descendants. The largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany is the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest in the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, Canada. Other cities claiming to be the largest Oktoberfests outside of Germany include Blumenau, Brazil and Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. This magnanimous festival traveled to new geographical locations in the latter half of the year 2007 and heralded it's aura in Montreal to begin with. Oktoberfest is the holiday that all Bavarians look forward to most throughout the year and reflects the pride among Germans in upholding their long-lived traditions in the most fun-filled manner.