Munich Mayor Christian Ude officially opened the 176th edition of Oktoberfest on Saturday with the tapping of the keg and a cry of "Ozapft is!", or "It's tapped!"

As is tradition, the head of Bavaria's government is entitled to the first keg. This year that honor went to the state's premier, Horst Seehofer, who was handed the first liter of beer by Ude.

The celebration was spared last year's dirndl scandal by Seehofer's wife, Karin, who showed up dressed in the traditional manner. A year ago, Marga Beckstein, wife of then-governor Guenther Beckstein, refused to wear a dirndl and chose instead to don a traditional jacket.

Some six million people are expected to show up at Oktoberfest this year where they will down close to seven million liters of beer and eat around 500,000 chickens and 100 oxen.

The 16-day festival, which goes until October 4, is a huge tourist draw for the southern German city, which began holding the event back in 1810. It started out as a party to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig I to Princess Therese von Saxe-Hildburghausen.

The large green on which everyone celebrates today is known as Theresienwiese, named in honor of the bride, and was the site of a horse race on the couple's wedding day.

mrm/dpa/AP
Editor: Andreas Illmer