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Thousands of visitors, many of them dressed in traditional lederhosen or dirndl corseted dresses, descended on Munich on Saturday for the start of the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival. Munich's mayor, Dieter Reiter, kicked off the festivities by tapping open the first beer keg with a traditional shout of "O zapft is!" ("It's tapped" in English). Oktoberfest attracts around six million visitors every year, with some travelling from abroad for the experience. This year's festival runs from September 22 to October 7.