Neglected niche of cultural tourism

Having spent 17 years promoting cultural tourism, first as a Tourist Board official and later at the Ministry of Tourism, I was encouraged to promote the Maltese festa by visiting journalists whom I often accompanied during their brief sojourn. I remember Reginald Payne, the editor of the influential Sunday tabloid The People, telling me that "a summer holiday in Malta is not complete without a visit to a village en fete".

Not so long ago "sun and sea" were synonymous with the Maltese islands' advertising campaigns, with archaeology and the prehistoric heritage receiving an "honourable mention". We have since discovered that an island in the sun, indeed every tourist destination, has its own characteristics and visitors enjoy exploring its culture, folklore and people.

Malta and Gozo can boast of their historic past along with the present colourful calendar of events. The festa says it all but only a handful of tourists are aware of its attractions because marketing and advertising campaigns abroad are conspicuous by their absence.

To look through the kaleidoscope of a Maltese festa one needs an in-depth study of the past and present, interwoven with threads of religious, social and political disguise.

The following anecdotes may help foreign readers and our own compatriots understand that there is more than just saints and fireworks in the Maltese festa season.

An English author, George Sandys, on a visit to Malta in 1610, wrote about the feast of St John in one of his books. In his description he noted that the façades of palaces, churches and the auberges of the Knights in Valletta glittered with oil lamps and volley balls were fired from cannons around the fortifications of the city. There is no comparison between the origin of the quiet, wholly-religious manifestation of some 400 years ago, which meant more bread to the poor of the village folk, who had long refrained from eating humble pie. The feast of the patron saint was measured according to the means of the local population who were poor and treated as second-class citizens by the ruling conquerors. They were further burdened by heavy taxes and threatened by marauders who plundered their fields and ransacked their homes.

On the bright side of the situation, the Church had instituted a calendar of holy days including feasts in honour of the Apostles. These were days of obligation when one had to hear Mass and refrain from work, which also served to escape from daily labour and hardship. Parishioners looked forward to those in high society providing them with a sumptuous meal on feast days. It was customary to give bread to the needy with generous portions of meat, honey and wine. A traditional meal, referred to by the eminent Maltese writer Mikiel Anton Vassalli as Il-Qirew, was held in many towns and villages. A re-enactment of Il-Qirew was held as recently as 1976 in Victoria as a prelude to the festivities of St George.

Mgr Pietro Dusina, the first Inquisitor who compiled a report on the Maltese islands' religious state of affairs, wrote in 1575 that on the feast of St Mary in the village of Għaxaq, a certain Avello Mangion had left a legacy for the distribution of wine and fruit to those who heard Mass.

According to Maltese history analyst Castagna, in 1777 Grand Master De Rohan encouraged the local population to celebrate both church and outdoor festivities with greater pomp.

During the knights' era, manifestations of faith were rather limited to pilgrimages and processions either in thanksgiving after a pestilence or to invoke divine mercy. The statue of St Joseph brought by the knights from Rhodes in 1530 is considered as the oldest sacred effigy involved in these pilgrimages.

In the late 18th century, processional statues made from papier machè and others sculpted in wood became the focal attraction in the celebrations of the Maltese festa. Melchiorre Gafà, Salvatore Psaila, Carlo Darmanin, Pietro Paolo Azzopardi, Mariano Gerada and, later, Wistin Camilleri and his sons, who inherited his talents, are among those artists of repute who regaled treasures of sacred images adorning Maltese churches.

Festa days invite visitors to the Maltese islands (without any prejudice to their beliefs) to make even a token presence under the naves. The church's interior unfolds a unique sight - a living museum of sacred art exhibiting a radiant heritage of craftsmanship, from gold and silver objets d'art to the glittering lights of chandeliers.

The festa reaches its climax with the religious procession winding its way through the streets of the village. Each procession with the statue of the saint is characterised by the participating clergy and fratelli, members of a guild who, in times past, played the role of trade unions with each particular guild promoting the needs of tradesmen such as carpenters, tailors and cobblers.

Bands and band clubs take pride of place in the exterior festivities. Historically their first appearance was, in broad terms, during the middle of the 19th century but political strife at the turn of the century divided the people into pro-British or pro-Italian partisans, resulting in the opening of various band clubs backed mostly by the political parties at the time.

Likewise, politics and parochial pique created rival groups known as partiti, which, up to not long ago, were the cause of disputes by members of the afore-mentioned religious guilds under the patronage of a particular saint other than the patron of the town or village. Festa fever still runs high in some localities boasting of two full-scale celebrations annually, each rivalling the other in decorations, band marches and the inevitable fireworks displays.

Tracing history anecdotes once again, festive occasions in the Maltese islands in the 15th and 16th centuries were few and limited to moderate outbursts of jollity, with only traditional instruments such as iż-żaqq, reminiscent of the Scottish bagpipes and the Italian zampogna. Later on in years, string instruments made up for the sound of music.

Again, the "bread and honey" days contrast sharply with today's l-ikla tal-festa! Heavy meals and banquets are synonymous with feasting in Malta and on the feast day they are not meant only for the gourmets but are more likely to reunite relatives and friends in a social gathering. And housewives take pride in preparing a special menu.

Certainly, the lapse of time has changed many aspects and next to the qubbajt seller (a local nougat and traditional festa delicacy) one finds scores of fast-food vendors to satisfy hungry stomachs.

These anecdotes, intended for readers who are not familiar with the Maltese festa, are only a pen portrait of the pageantry and folklore enshrined in the summer season. An afterthought and a concluding piece of advice is worthy of note to tourists on a visit to a village festa.

You will discover more if you mingle with the crowds who will be only too pleased to see you sharing in the fun and festive mood. Peep into a local house. The doors are flung open for a big show off. For it is not only the house of God which glitters with radiant splendour. At home, a red carpet leads to another feast of colour where chandeliers beam on the ornaments on display and food and drinks are served to visiting guests. You may even be invited to share in the spirit of the Maltese festa!

Mr Coleiro, PRO of the Religious Tourism Organisation, is author of Il-Festi Tagħna (PIN 2003) and produced and presented festa programmes and serials on television and radio.