Put on your drinking cap - it's Oktoberfest

IN GERMANY MOST of it takes place in September, and in Hong Kong it continues into November, but whatever the actual dates on which Oktoberfest is observed, it is unquestionably one of the biggest and heartiest parties of the year.

By tradition, the festival in Munich - where it was first observed in 1810 to mark the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen - lasts for about 16 days, beginning on the Saturday of the third weekend in September, and continues until German Unity Day on October 3, or shortly thereafter.

It usually takes war, pestilence or an equivalent disaster to prevent this immensely popular celebration being held. It has been cancelled only 24 times since 1810, for reasons ranging from cholera to galloping inflation.

It has, however, been held without interruption since 1950.

The Munich event attracts visitors from all over the world but has preserved a uniquely Bavarian character. It still takes place in the Theresienwiese, named for Princess Therese, and is opened by the mayor of Munich, who ceremonially taps a keg of beer.

Beer plays a central role in the celebration. The major Munich breweries produce special Oktoberfest beer for the festival and it is estimated that 30 per cent of their annual production is consumed in the course of the celebrations. Last year, 6 million mugs of beer - which works out at about one each per visitor - were sold.

Some visitors, of course, do not drink, while others go to it with relish. The latter require strong heads. Those are not just any mugs. Part of the tradition of the festival is that beer is sold in one-litre, heavy glass receptacles, each of which is called a 'mass'.