Inevitably, all local festivals stand in the shadow of the Oktoberfest , but there are plenty of other annual events. Fasching , Munich's Carnival, begins in earnest immediately after Epiphany with a week-long series of costume parades. Fancy-dress balls are held regularly up to and including Carnival Week, whose festivities come to a climax on Ash Wednesday with a ceremony of washing money bags at the Fischbrunnen in Marienplatz. A couple of weeks later begins Starkbierzeit , the period when strong beer is served in the taverns to help make the stringencies of Lent bearable. More specially brewed strong beer can be sampled at the Maibock-Anstich in May. Held in the Olympiapark during June and July, Tollwood is a world music festival which additionally features stalls selling a similarly international range of food and handicrafts.

 

The Auer Dult is a traditional market that takes place on the Mariahilfplatz during the last weeks of April, July and October each year. It has a combination of hardware, crafts and antiques, as well as a fairground for the kids. An annual Christmas market, known as the Christkindlmarkt , is held on the Marienplatz during the month of December, though the ones at the Münchener Freiheit, and around the Pariser Platz in Haidhausen, are less commercialized with more handmade crafts.