Festa fireworks

The festa season has already started, and week after week every village in Gozo will celebrate its feast to the patron saint. Feasts are colourful events and a tourist attraction, apart from being part of our folklore. Fireworks form an important part of our festas. The lighting up of fireworks, especially the colourful ones, enhance the spectacle of our village festas. Tourists are amazed by these displays, although some are surprised why we have such noisy jubilation. Fireworks confirm our extroversion and show our Mediterranean character.

The fireworks are product of our local expertise in this field. The art of making fireworks is passed from one person to another, usually from one generation to another in the same family. All over the island we find a number of fireworks factories where they mix the dangerous chemicals to make these fireworks.

Nowadays they are supposed to function under strict regulations layed out by the police when they apply for a permit. Unfortunately, these regulations are not always obeyed and all sorts of persons even children under age dare to go to help in these factories. It has been a yearly occurrence that a person or more dies tragically from explosions occurring in these so- called factories.

Despite all this human loss they persist in this dangerous work. Some even consider these persons who loose their lives as village martyrs. The scene is repeated all the time: a tremendous explosion occurs; civil protection personnel, police, hospital staff and onlookers go to the rescue. The injured are taken to hospital and the death to the mortuary. A big funeral is held in the village and everybody shows his sorrow for the loss of those killed. Life goes on and after a few months a new factory is built. Fortunately, these scenes are becoming rare in Gozo since most of the factories closed and the fireworks for Gozitan feasts are being ordered from Malta.

Another aspect of fireworks is the cost incurred. These are very expensive to produce but the festa organisers manage to collect all the funds needed to buy these fireworks. The bill runs into thousands of liri and many argue why all this money is spent on these fireworks, which are burnt in the sky in a few minutes. These argue that the money should be used more aptly for some project in the village, which is more useful and lasting.

One must also mention the bad health effects of fireworks, especially the loud petards. These are harmful to our hearing and can cause loss of hearing. They can also be a great nuisance to sick people and to those who need to rest because of their work schedule. These are considerations that need to be addressed and more attention paid to them.

In Gozo it is becoming a problem in most localities to find a safe place from where to set off these fireworks. Most of the villages are built up nowadays and it is a nuisance to certain people who own property in a quiet area to have their home foundations rocked with the sound of these powerful petards.

The festa committees responsible for hosting these manifestations should take into consideration the safety aspect and be prepared to compensate for any damages done. Insurance cover is not enough as health and psychological damage cannot be compensated.

A sense of moderation should be kept and these committees should not be allowed to do whatever they want by the church authorities, namely the archpriest and clergy who after all are responsible for the festa. Most of these committees are bypassing the clergy by collecting the money themselves and then justify themselves by donating a portion of the money collected to charity.

All in all we must keep a balance between all these aspects: the tradition and the cost, the safety and the health aspect. Can we be more moderate, increase the safety aspect and try be less noisy? Wishing all a happy festa.