The BIERFEST

Have you ever been to a bierfest? A real, german Bierfest with the great Masskrugen (A Masskrug is a beer mug that measures 1 litre of beer) and the masses of people? It is an experience not to be missed…and definitely never to be repeated.

Some people would protest that I am not doing justice to the great time-honoured practice of celebrating the Bierfest. Afterall, it is the spirit of celebration and togetherness that counts, as well as the team spirit involved in challenging one another to finish as many Massen as possible. In any case, let me first explain how such an activity becomes tradition and pastime of the Deutschen.

As always is the case with large celebrations and holidays, one NEEDS to have a reason for them, though the true reason is obvious, ie. To relax and celebrate. Over here, the reason is simpler: to drink beer. And they do have a very good side-reason for this bierfest in Erlangen. It is called the Bergkirchweih, (direct translation: Mountain church blessing). Just after a church is built, it would be blessed in a ceremony and this ceremony is called the Kirchweih. Of course they had a mass celebration after that, and to commemorate the great day in which the community had a new church, a yearly Bierfest is held, and this Bierfest is simply one of the largest celebrations I have seen in my life. It lasts for 2 weeks every year. Not only the Germans celebrate, but the entire world celebrates with them. This occasion is so international, that at least 4 out of 10 people I saw were non-Germans, ie. Chinese, Africans, Asians, etc. Even the signs on the Autobahn point to this place: the signs rarely say Erlangen, but “Bergkirchweih”.

It is admittedly tough to picture the enormity of the event unless you had been there. Remember the book that Jules Verne wrote, “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”? Now if he had been to the Bergkirchweih, he would have been inspired to write “Journey to the Centre of the Kirchweih.” It was FULL of people, so full that you are compressed by people all around you, and there are times when your feet hardly seemed to touch the ground, because you are just carried by the immense throngs of people about you. It was amazing to see how people can balance 2-4 Masskrugen and go through the crowd, hardly spilling a drop of the celebrated froth. People skillfully drank and smoked, whipping their cigarette butts away from other people just in the nick of time, some just jumped to the life music there. The sights and the smells, oh, the smells of the place…there was the hint of something sour like regurgitated beer in the air, but my colleagues insisted it was horse dung, which made it somehow more bearable (how would you get horse dung in the middle of a city, though?) The five of us made our way through the crowd miraculously, and stood in line to get our Masskrugen of beer. There was a deposit of 5 euros, while the beer costed 6.50 euros, because you had to return the Masskrug. After getting a Masskrug each, we made our way back to get a seat, which was unfortunately against the flow of human traffic (everyone wanted another Mass of beer suddenly) I lost sight of my petite friend and accidentally pushed a drunk man, who started protesting repeatedly, “Das war gemein, sich anzustiessen.” (That was mean, to push on ahead.”) I muttered a guttural sorry and hurried on.

We finally met our colleague Alex near the live band. He was wearing the traditional German Lederhosen or Leather Pants, with the holsters, traditional shoes and all, and looked really cute in it, like the traditional German Farmer. It is the standard Bierfest suit, you could almost imagine him dancing the folkdance in it. We said “prost”, knocked one another’s Masskrugen and drank up. (Apparently you HAVE to drink up after you do this, or else you would have seven years of bad sex.) Surprisingly, the beer did not taste that bad after all, it even had an aroma. Unsurprisingly, the live music was bad, so to entertain ourselves better, we stood on the benches, putting our arms around one another, and pretended to like the music.

At 11 pm, everything started to quieten down. Sales of beer stopped at 11pm, and some people started to head home. My colleague Ioanna and I were heading towards the toilet when this guy just stopped Ioanna, and said, “Du reizt mich an.” (You excite me). I tried to steer her away from him but this persistent guy just blocked our way wherever we turned. Luckily Yang, a petite but very streetsmart Vietnamese Australian, turned back to get us and she was great, just saying,” Excuse me, we are trying to get to the toilet here. Es ist dringend! (it is urgent!)”, gave him a shove and we were free. I was impressed. Guess must be fiercer next time.

After returning the Masskrugen, we made our way to the pubs, on the way meeting some guys who offered us some of their pretzels (the big ones which are about twice the size of your head). Yang and Ioanna started playing with Alex’s Lederhosen, threatening to undress him or something. Then a group of youngsters heard them and really tried to strip him. It was all done in the spirit of fun, not threatening, and when we realized that Alex didn’t know these youngsters at all, Yang shooed them off, saying, “No no no, he’s mine!” That was hilarious=)

Nothing exciting happened at the pub, though it was rather tiring to keep dancing, and trying to help Ioanna ward off some advances. (Really, she is rather pretty and dances rather well too=)) I left at 2am, rather early by party standards, and reached home at about 4 am, as the sun began to rise. One thing I must credit the Germans with is that it is rather safe, even with half of bus being drunk, and public transport is always punctual, even in the wee hours of the morning. It was interesting to see how someone would start singing a song on the bus, and the entire bus would sing along. I mean, can you imagine someone singing Chan Mali Chan on the our SBS buses and everyone just singing along?

Plonked right into bed at 6 am, after eating a most delicious bowl of instant mee, and was up at 10 am to go to a Ritterfest (Knight festival) Will tell ya all about it only tomorrow, it is 1 am plus now, and I still have to work tomorrow=)

“Money makes the world go round, beer makes the world go round and round…”
--aleetlesometing is lacking in my brain at 1.20 am in the morning. =P