Village feasts

I read with interest Frans H. Said's suggestions on "healing the hatred" in village feasts, but I think we need to delve into another area before making any changes.

We need to educate the people and teach them how to respect others' opinions, tastes and beliefs. A lot of what I see happening in Malta can be described as ignorance and fanaticism.

Education has to start from each parish priest and his clergy followed by other organisations. It should also be the responsibility of the parents to raise their children differently from how some of them had been raised. In Malaysia, I saw a Christian church across the road from a Muslim mosque and a Buddhist temple just a few metres away from another mosque. They don't fight, they don't insult each other but they all enjoy each others' celebrations.

It is so sad to see so-called "Catholics" offending others "in honour" of their patron saint. Are we so blind that we don't see silliness in such actions? I can assure those "devotees" that their patron saint is totally unhappy with their actions and behaviour. Dig deep into your conscience and you may be able to find out that insulting others is not the way to go. We adore one God and we all venerate His saints and none of those saints ought to be despised simply because they are the patron saint of the other part of the town or village.

We have great feasts in Malta. I personally attend as many as I can and I love them all. We can all join those who are celebrating and celebrate with them and they can come and celebrate with us on our feast day.