Oktoberfest, Intoxication, Play

Who knew maintaining a blog was so hard?

This past weekend, the city of Mount Angel OR. celebrated is 42nd annual Oktoberfest. The town of 3000 swells to between 400 and 500 thousand. It is the second largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany, running second to Cincinnati, OH. The city ran rich with sausages, beer, sausages, chicken dances, sausages, and apple cake with butter sauce, among other things.

The reason I mention this is, not only to explain why I haven't posted for a little while (did I mention beer and sausages) but also because it highlights several points worth mentioning about human nature. Play is the central point. Of course, other animals play: dolphins, wolves, cats, dogs, monkeys, etc. But I wonder if any of them work so hard at play as human beings do? In any case, I think much of philosophy ignores that aspect of play when discussing human nature. Play is something babies and children do, not rational animals like human beings.

Part of our play sometimes entails intoxicating ourselves. Not everyone does and certainly not to the extent that teenagers in America do, but we do intoxicate ourselves. No other animal does that. What does it say about being human?


Ritual is another aspect Oktoberfest reminds us of. We celebrate the harvest. Every Oktoberfest has the same elements. We dance the chicken dance every year. The Oktoberfest would not be the Oktoberfest without chicken dances, sausages, and beer. Ritual is a significant element in our human life, more so, I think than in non-human animals. While non-human animals might have some rituals they go through, none of them seem as elaborate or creative as human ritual.

We should not overlook these elements when we think about human nature. Oktoberfest is as much a part of who we are as anything else.