This week, Munich, Germany, and countless communities across America as well, are celebrating Oktoberfest, a 16-day festival that coincides with the end of the harvest season. New Hampshire brewers are making martzen, the traditional Oktoberfest beer. Restaurants, inns and ski areas are holding feasts, dances and parties. But what, we wondered, does Oktoberfest actually celebrate?

It began, as it turns out, not as a harvest festival but as a gala first held on Oct. 12, 1810, to honor the marriage of the man who was to become one of the world's most infamous kings, Ludwig the Mad of Bavaria.

Ludwig was a man who loved castles, and he spent his kingdom's fortune building them. They include, thanks to Walt Disney, what is probably the most famous castle in the world, the fairy tale aerie Neuschwanstein in the Bavarian Alps.

Ludwig, who was beloved by his people despite his financial excesses and peculiarities, was also know as the Fairy Tale King and the Swan King, for he frequently walked about Swan Lake. He was a friend and patron of composer Richard Wagner. He lived as if he were a character in a Wagnerian opera and dressed in outrageous costumes.

Ludwig reputedly declared himself emperor late in life and declared day night and night day. It is most fitting that Oktoberfest, a celebration held in his honor, occurs in the weeks before an election, when many times per day, political candidates appear on television and claim much the same thing.

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