2023-09-08 11:35:00
In Germany, business is time, fun is Kirmes or Volksfest, that is, a fair or folk festival. Previously, they were held on the anniversaries of the consecration of parish churches, other important dates, after the end of field work, or on other glorious occasions. The traditions still live, and autumn is the busiest time for such mass celebrations. The most famous and crowded of them is the Munich Oktoberfest.
Beer holidays
Visitors to the Munich Oktoberfest Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa/picture alliance
In 2023 Oktoberfest (Munich Oktoberfest) opens in the Bavarian capital on September 16. In more than two weeks, it usually attracts about 6.5 million visitors. Many other German cities also have their own large and small Oktoberfests. For example, in Hanover (09/22-08/10), Dortmund (09/22-02/10) and Mainz (10/12-10/29).
Kanshtat holiday
Traditional fair souvenirs – heart-shaped gingerbread cookiesPhoto: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Kraufmann
Another big beer festival takes place in the fall in the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, on the Canstatt Meadow (Cannstatter Wasen). For the first time, it was organized almost two centuries ago to mark the end of a natural disaster – the “Year Without Summer” (1816), when in Western Europe, due to the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora, very cold weather reigned for a long time, which led to crop failure and famine.
The first Cannstatter Volksfest took place in 1818. Then more than 30 thousand people took part in it. Now it is one of the ten most popular folk festivals in Germany – about 3.7 million visitors. In 2023, the Kanstatt holiday is held from September 22 to October 8.
Westphalian Zend
Roller coaster in Munster, GermanyPhoto: picture alliance/augenklick/firo Sportphoto
Next we will go to Munster, where you can walk three times – at the end of spring, summer and autumn. The name of the local folk festival Zend (Send) comes from the word Synode, that is, synods for which the priests of the local bishopric regularly met in this Westphalian city. Fairs on the occasion of synods, which became traditional, began to be held in the 11th century.
Autumn Zend (Herbstsend) 2023 will take place from October 21 to October 29. The total number of visitors to all three festivals in Münster is about a million people. Two and a half hundred attractions and stalls are installed on the territory of the fair, and applications for a place here are submitted approximately seven times more.
Sausage market in Bad Dürkheim
Ferris wheel in the middle of the Sausage Market Photo: picture-alliance/dpa
The sausage market, held in the resort town of Bad Dürkheim, is in fact not a sausage market at all, not a beer market, but a wine market. Dürkheim Sausage Market, first held in 1417, is today considered the largest wine festival in the world. The number of its visitors exceeds 600 thousand people, which is 35 times the population of the city.
Of course, it all began many centuries ago with fairs where cows, pigs and other livestock from all over the Palatinate were sold in this place. Now you can try, for example, more than 80 different Rieslings. The Durkheim sausage market traditionally takes place on the second and third weekends of September, in 2023 – 08-12 and 15-18 September.
Vintage Festival
Procession of winemakers in NeustadtPhoto: picture-alliance/dpa/U.Anspach
Just 15 kilometers from Bad Dürkheim, the German Vintage Festival takes place in autumn – German vintage festival. It is traditionally organized on the first and second weekends of October in the city of Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
The German grape harvest festival is considered the second largest wine festival in the world. In 2023 it takes place September 22 – October 9.
Freimarkt in Bremen
Bremen Folk FestivalPhoto: picture alliance/blickwinkel/McPHOTOs
“Free Market” in Bremen, i.e. Freimarkt (Free market), is considered one of the oldest folk festivals in Germany. For the first time, the market itself took place in 1035 after Emperor Conrad II granted the Bremen archbishop the privilege to hold such fairs – a very profitable business. The name Freimarkt began to be used much later – in the 14th century.
For almost seven centuries it served its original purpose – that is, it was a fair to which peasants and traders brought various goods. The gradual transformation of Freimarkt into a mass folk festival began in 1818, when the first swings were installed here. Now it is visited by more than four million people. In 2023, the Bremen Freimarkt is held from October 18 to November 3.
Kramermarkt in Oldenburg
Participant in the traditional procession opening the Kramermarkt fairPhoto: picture alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
“Shopkeepers’ Fair” (Kramer market) in Oldenburg is one of the ten most popular folk festivals in Germany, and locals even call this holiday the “Fifth Season”. It was first organized at the beginning of the 17th century to sell what local peasants managed to grow over the summer. Previously, mainly small shopkeepers and traveling traders came here, hence the name.
Now about one and a half million people visit this fair every year. Kramermarkt 2023 begins on September 29 and continues until October 8. It will open with a traditional procession in memory of the fair’s founder, Anton Günther (1583-1667), Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst.
Hamburg Cathedral
Attraction at the Hamburg festival in 1955 Photo: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Rohwedder
National holiday Hamburg Cathedral (Hamburger Dom) is held in the Hanseatic city on the Elbe three times a year – in late autumn, spring and summer. It owes its name to the cathedral church, destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century. In the Middle Ages, small traders, artisans, jesters and healers were allowed to take refuge in it from bad weather. One of the bishops tried to expel them, but the parishioners were indignant…
After the demolition of the church, these fairs wandered around Hamburg for a long time, but since 1893 they began to be held always in one square, which became a traditional place of entertainment in this city. The largest of the three holidays takes place at the end of autumn. In 2023, it will open on November 10 and run for a month. Spring and summer fairs are younger. They were first organized after the Second World War.
Autumn fair in Magdeburg
Ferris wheel and silhouette of Magdeburg Cathedral Photo: picture alliance/ZB/J. Wolf
In the city of Magdeburg, the capital of the current state of Saxony-Anhalt, there is the oldest Gothic temple in Germany, founded in 1209. Its construction required huge funds. They were partially received from fairs held near the walls of the church twice a year – in spring and autumn. Moreover, the tradition of these fairs themselves is even more ancient. They have already celebrated their 1000th anniversary!
Autumn Fair (autumn fair) is held in the city park of Magdeburg. In 2023, the national holiday will open on September 22 and continue until October 15.
Well fair in Bonn
Fair carouselPhoto: picture-alliance/dpa
Let’s complete our review of the national holidays that you can attend in autumn Germany, in the former capital of Germany, Bonn. Every year the so-called Well Fair is held here – Pützchen’s market. It recalls a miraculous event a thousand years ago, when, during a long drought, residents turned to the monastery in Willich for help, and after the prayer of Abbess Adelheide, a spring began to flow from under the ground…
After the death of Adelheide, pilgrims flocked to the grave of the holy nun, for whom merchants began to organize fairs. Their first written mention dates back to 1367. In 2023, this five-day fair takes place September 8-12.
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