Oktoberfest in pictures

This weekend saw the world’s biggest beer festival wrap up for another year, and here’s a round up of some of the pictures that have been posted on social media over the last two weeks.

This year’s Oktoberfest ran for 16 days from 21 September to 6 October and it is expected that over 15 million pints of beer will have been served during the event. This picture, posted by Warsteiner_E, shows one man taking the strain of five steins.

The event is a huge part of Munich life and even the football players at local club Bayern Munich were encouraged to take time off to visit the fair. Here club coach Pep Guardiola enjoys a beer, Bayern’s chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, told the players: “Celebrate freely. Our next game isn’t for another two weeks. We can enjoy the beer.”

This picture from @Delfipedriel, shows a great view of the main area of Oktoberfest, which has been running since 1810 although there were breaks during both world wars.

The event started in as a celebration of the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig, when the citizens of Munich were invited to attend festivities to celebrate the royal event. This picture was posted by @Etihad_Stadium.

Traditional costumes of lederhosen for men and drindl dresses for the women are popular at the event and this photo from @Missdeern shows three ladies enjoying the traditional celebrations.

At the opening of this year’s Oktoberfest local mayor Mayor Ude told Deutsche Welle: “What I don’t like here is competitive drinking. You don’t need to prove to the world that you’re a total idiot.” While many people heeded the mayor’s words some obviously still got carried away.

This year it is estimated that over six million people attended the event, and @Suprefye, who posted this picture was one of those.

Only beers that conform to the German beer purity law, or Reinheitsgebot, and that are brewed within the city limits of Munich can be served at Oktoberfest. Beers that meet the criteria can be designated Oktoberfest Beer.

It is estimated that Oktoberfest will generate nearly £1 billion this year, which saw beer costing on average €9.66 (£8.15) the most expensive average in the event’s 200-year history.

And finally this picture from @FrauFranziii shows one beer hall in full swing. You really wouldn’t want to get back from the bar to find that you’d forgotten someone’s drink. The 2014 Oktoberfest will run from 20 September to 5 October.