Naxxar Peace band cancels feast marches

Vanessa Vella

Sep 4th 2008, 15:21

May I point out the following:
1. The Peace Band Club DID issue a booklet which was distributed around the whole village! In fact I have a copy of this program.
2. The Peace Band Club has NOT cancelled all of it's activities and in fact will participate on the eve and on the day of the feast.
3. Fireworks used for the "giggifogu" are much less harmful than the fireworks found in the Peace Band Club's basement. In fact it is allowed that people stay at a safe, but considerably near distance of ground fireworks, which is not applicable for air fireworks!

Josephine chircop

Sep 4th 2008, 14:54

If anyone of you all has the programs of the feast of Naxxar, turn to page 29 and page 15 and you will see a full page advert made by relatives of the victim who died in this tragedy. there were bloggers who mentioned the peace band club program, be informed that there was no program issued this year. others said that since the fireworks found at the peace band club could have caused a bigger tragedy since it's next to a petrol station, ghala inhallu ig-giggifogu jinharaq sena wara sena?

M Vella

Sep 4th 2008, 10:32

M. L. Calleja Do you realt thing that the VBC is realy on the bad side of this encounter? Respect for this woman,wife and mother was always shown b4 and after the tragedy. But why all d fuss for our feast to be cancelled? Remeber that this happened 6 mths ago, and our nobile band (PBC) has decided to b human 2 days b4 d feast, when they, 10 days after the tragedy, were playing festive marches and valses all round Naxxar. So ples stop these patetic comments about Naxxar and get a life! And btw, everyone was telling about MArsaxlokk,not making the feast, 1st of all it was a week b4 the feast, and 2ndly if one had gone on sunday morning one could see many xlukkajri all drunk in front of the band club!

Lawrence Calleja

Sep 3rd 2008, 21:07

Is that the way that the Victory Band Club treat one of its members. This is a very unusual way of showing respect to a person by organsing band marches and above all making fireworks displays. The same way that this person has lost its life. i hope that the Victory band club would come to its senses and limit their feast events to the least possible without any unnecessary offensive gestures.

M Vella

Sep 3rd 2008, 19:38

Oh yes, what a nobile gesture from PBC, its sounds that they are on the right side of justice. The real thing is that they are just PATETIC. Redrawing from something they didn't even plan to make! On the other hand one cannot just take it on the ViBC, which altough showing alot of respect by gatering money to the victims at the bar, show sign of respect in every occasion they held like a minute silencein their annual concert which was held yesterday the limitation of 'briju' in 2mrws march , cutting by half the dates in which they usualy lit of petards. The VBC always showed respect for these p[eople which one must point out that Ms. Sammut was one of its supporter! I think that those of you that just speak for the sake of saying something just stop it and b4 commenting, go check out what is reay going on in Naxxar.
And btw, petards are not the problem in Malat but the ilegality in petards is!

Charles Micallef

Sep 3rd 2008, 12:02

@C. Aquilina

Regret that your argument is rather poor and offensive. These people's lives were terminated by total disregard to life and utter negligence of a few fiesta fireworks enthusiasts.

When one life expires due to an illness is god's will, there is the difference!

Christian Calleja

Sep 3rd 2008, 11:30

Well said Mr. Conrad Aquilina

C. Vella

Sep 3rd 2008, 11:07

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin

One would find the above comment to be as equally insensitive as the one posted by C. Aquilina where the writer claims that one should not discriminate between types of death. In reality, it is the causative factor (how one dies) which determines what makes a death more or less tragic than another, and not the end in itself.

Feasts do not lead to tragedies - inconsiderate and irresponsible human action does. Typical and oft-mentioned example are fireworks - do not ban feasts, ban fireworks.

C. Aquilina

Sep 3rd 2008, 10:53

Life should always be respected - no matter what end it meets. Death is always a tragedy, especially for relatives. I do not want to sound insensitive, but what is the difference between the March tragedy and that of a person killed in a traffic accident or by a terminal sickness? Should we start cancelling feasts for every dying person?

Lawrence Calleja

Sep 3rd 2008, 10:19

Shame on the church and the victory band club to go on with their festive celebrations. By saying this I am not not giving any credit to the Peace band club at all. The majority of naxxar residents are against the so called marci tal-brijju and fireworks for this year's feast. Let us show respect to those who lost their life during the explosion incident that occurred during the past months. There is still time to cancel any planned events.

R.Vassallo

Sep 2nd 2008, 23:32

Thanks A.Cassar - at least there are some people who are putting themselves in our shoes and trying to understand our feelings.

Well done G. Schembri - what you said is right, in your own home, it is not safe at all, like it was at my aunt's home.

victor vella

Sep 2nd 2008, 22:31

I believe that as a sign of respect for that poor women who died while in the sanctity of her own home, in respect of those kids and husband who mourne her In respect of those families who lost everything the external celebrations should not be held and if for buisness reasons held no fireworks should be let off.
Any money saved should be given to the families who suffered loss and hardship in the tragedy.and not saved so that next year they would have a bigger feast,where are the members of parlament from the village can they take sides? Does and person from Naxxar think that our Lady of Victories can accept thier respect and celebration in her name when she knows of the hardship and sufferings of the families? If it was people from the fireworks factory who lost thier life then the feast would have been cancelled, but that women is of no concern to the organising comittee and the parish priest. SHAME ON YOU LOT.I do hope that you recieve the holy comunion on the 8 th September.

Ernest Vella

Sep 2nd 2008, 22:18

For sure the Church "celebrations" must be held normally...for we celebrate the Graces that God placed on his choosen one to be the mother of our Saviour. We cannot aspect that the feast of the Birth of Our Lady should be stopped...otherwise...those who normally work for the outdoor feast must attend every function of the church to show at least that altough there petards will not harm anyone they would serve to them to learn to imitate our Lady in her viurtues and to ask forgiveness if needed to God

k grech

Sep 2nd 2008, 17:06

effie carbonaro if you do not know what was happening you better not write. The Peace Band Club has long been thinking about not particiapting in marches in this years feast. It could be that they left it late to announce it and included it in their program because others involved in the organinisg the feast wanted them to participate in full.

A. Lombardi

Sep 2nd 2008, 16:16

What sensible suggestion would that be ? I give you my sensible suggestion! ALL FEASTS ARE PAGAN traditions of men!

Vanessa Vella

Sep 2nd 2008, 16:02

Commenting on Mr. Curmi's and Ms. Galea's comment, one should point out that ALL Naxxar parties, including that represented by the church agreed that the feast should go ahead - it was the parish priest who was mostly eager for the external actvities to go ahead. In fact, as I already pointed out, Easter external activities were held just 10 DAYS after the tragedy.

Ms. Galea also commented that 'These 'civil parties' were, after all, responsible for the tragedy not the church.' - only ONE 'civil' party in Naxxar is under investigation, and still not guilty of anything. So please, let us not point fingers without thought!

George Curmi

Sep 2nd 2008, 14:05

Has anyone bothered to read Rachel Galea's post? Perhaps everyone should read it carefully. She has made the most sensible suggestion.

G.Schgembri

Sep 2nd 2008, 13:56

Without sounding callous, I'd like to point out that it was only in Naxxar that a housewife died, in her house, the place where one should feel the safest. This is the difference between Naxxar and other firework tragedies. By this I don't mean that we should not feel sorry for the other victims, but these people were living in danger without their knowledge whilst the others knew the kind of danger they were in. This is the reason that the Naxxar feast is the only one under attack. If I'm not mistaken there were other villages that decided not to have fireworks for the first feast after a fireworks tragedy.

C Aquilina

Sep 2nd 2008, 10:46

I agree with Vanessa Vella. It's not fair that only the Naxxar feast should be the only one under attack. All the feasts should be abolished.

Vanessa Vella

Sep 2nd 2008, 09:42

I have been reading and hearing comments from people who apparently do not know what the actual facts are. It was truly a big tragedy that shocked Naxxar some five months ago, as were the other tragedies that happened in other villages throughout Malta this year. However, apart from the Marsaxlokk feast, no other feast was cancelled, and nobody commented on this.
All parties, including the church committee for external activities, agreed that the feast should go on. It was only in the last few days that the Peace Band Club withdrew its intention to participate in SOME of the marches. The reason behind this action is unknown - maybe to attract sympathy or compassion? What many people are forgetting is that this same band club was the one that participated in the Easter festivities just 10 days AFTER the Naxxar tragedy. It is also the band club under whose premises were found illegal fireworks.

So I ask, why is the Naxxar feast the only feast under fire this year? And thinking that this was sparked by a sympathy-seeking statement by a band club under investigation!

Marcus Vella Bardon

Sep 2nd 2008, 09:05

In Malta year in year out we always hear about this or that fireworks accident and their victims. But no action of any worth is taken and these so called incidents keep on occurring.
Now we get places like the Naxxar Peace Band Club ,allowing the storage of substantial amounts of fireworks (enough to knock a number of houses down) to be stored in the basement of their premises in a densely populated area ,i guess it must be the band club building that will be held responsible ,and not whoever runs a band club and allowed it to be turned into a fireworks storage area .
Anyways it's about time parliament pulls it's finger out and opts that fireworks and there manufacture and importation be banned .Enough of all this pointless loss of life.
It's about time our village feasts occur without fireworks ,i'm sure everyone can celebrate his parish and saint without the need for fireworks, surely the relevant saint or statue won't be dissappointed.

Dennis Debono

Sep 2nd 2008, 08:15

I live a few meters down from were the explosion occured. It is simply disgusting to see that there is festa decorations just a few meters down the road.
We Maltese do not know what is respect! We do not act responsible! We never think of our neighbour before acting on something!
Typical --- "I'm alright F*** YOU JACK" ----

In Naxxar we get a full month of petards:

1. Lija Festa (Just before Santa Marija)
2. Mosta Festa (Santa Marija)
3. Gharghur Festa (Just After Santa Marija)
4. Naxxar Festa (A week after Gharghur)

A month of continous noise, with no respect to old people, people having newborns etc.

A Spiteri

Sep 2nd 2008, 03:56

Not celebrating won't bring the dead back...unfortunately. And by the way nobody said anything to Hal Lija about not celebrating, even though they too lost people. They had fireworks so before you all go labeling us as hard hearted, see what other people do in their own feasts. We cancelled almost all the fire, the statue was gotten out of church for the first time without any fanfare...What more can you expect us to do? And before anyone calls me a callous hearted individual, I knew the victims personally. I'm just sick of the whole village getting the blame for what a few people did, and I'm not even a festa fanatic. If we're doing this, we're doing it for religious purposes and not to have 'fun'. I'm offended that people are thinking otherwise.

Ronnie Gauci

Sep 1st 2008, 23:36

Wise decision, I totally agree.

N Borg

Sep 1st 2008, 20:16

When somebody gets caught with cultivating cannabis on part of his property, say the garden, the whole house is expropriated. What happens when a basement full of hazardous explosive material is discovered underneath a band club? They just close it down, probably for a short while until people forget. Is it time to change legislation here?

Rachel Galea

Sep 1st 2008, 20:15

Why is the church being brought into this. The religious part of the festa should be held and respects paid to the victims of the tragedy during all the masses on the fest day. Moreover the procession should be held as usual with the recital of the Rosary, for the repose of their souls, in place of the band marches.

It is the external feast festitivites programmed by the ''civil parties" that should not be held, no matter which band club they belong to. These 'civil parties' were, after all, responsible for the tragedy not the church.

martin saliba

Sep 1st 2008, 17:28

It would be sheer arogance and lack of respect from both the band club and the church if they even think of holding the Festa. Its best that moneis that would have been spent during he festivities , especially fireworks , be fowarded towards the families who suffered.

B Callus

Sep 1st 2008, 16:14

@ J Farrugia. The St Lawrence Band Club, along with the Committe for External Feast and also the then 'Kapitlu' of the Church of st Lawrence (Birgu) had together agreed that the Feast of 1978 will be held on two days, i.e. 9th and 10 th August. The feast began just after the funeral and burial of the Pope. Even the procession on 10th August was held, and all priests of Birgu took part in the procession. If this was against the Bishop's advice, I doubt the priests' participation in the External celebrations.

J Farrugia

Sep 1st 2008, 15:11

Michael Mifsud please do not mix things up. What does the blowing up of a patrol boat has got to do with the Naxxar feast? Let's be practical. The two things have got nothing to do with each other. If on the other hand you had quoted the fact that when the Pope Paul VI died in August 1978, and the St Lawrence Band went against the recommendations of the Maltese Bishops ( not to hold and religious festas) then yes, you would certainly be right. Because the two things are on the same binary. When the Head of the Roman Catholic Church dies, what is there to celebrate ? Remember All festas are first and foremost of a religious nature. It is us the people who extended or corrupted them into social events like we did with Christmas.

Tonio Cini

Sep 1st 2008, 15:06

All festivities for this year should stop to show respect. What Naxxar have past few months ago, is still fresh in everyone's mind!. There are families and friends who are still suffering from this tragedy and you both Band clubs and Parish Church, should show respect, CANCEL THE FEAST! ... This is no good time to celebrate.... Celebrate What??? ... you should all be ashamed of yourelves that you have not taken the right decision by now!

A. Lombardi

Sep 1st 2008, 14:00

@ Mario Gauci

I have no sympathy whatsoever with the Naxxar Peace Band. As far as I am concerned, outdoor festivities should be cancelled as a mark of respect and the monies collected for such activities should be used to alleviate the plight of the victims of the fireworks tragedy.

I could NOT agree with you more even the fireworks should be stopped and the money goes towards the victims !

J. Mifsud

Sep 1st 2008, 13:52

I will certainly boycott all external festivities in Naxxar with respect to the fireworks tragedy. Why did it have to take until the eve of the feast to declare that the Naxxar Peace band is cancelling the feast marches, and after harsh criticism from various quarters?

effie carbonaro

Sep 1st 2008, 12:29

@a.borg
you wrote{Well done to the committee of Peace Band Club} .well done for what?if you read my previous comment i wrote what was the reason that the club left it so late to cancel the band marches.i am still waiting a reply from mr gauci on these matter.

Michael Mifsud

Sep 1st 2008, 12:23

If I recall well, the Naxxar feast was the only feast celebrated the day after the Patrol Boat explosion quite a number of years ago. Sensitivity at delicate moments is something some people simply do not comprehend.

Catherine Muscat

Sep 1st 2008, 12:17

Well said Mr Reuben Zammit.

A. Borg

Sep 1st 2008, 12:10

Well done to the committee of Peace Band Club for understanding people's feelings in such a situation. I do expect as some already agreed that the band club donates some money to the families who lost their dear ones and their property at least as a kick start for a new life.

R. C Conti

Sep 1st 2008, 11:07

All external activities should be cancelled in sign of respect towards the victims of this tragedy which could have been easily with some good common sense. The damage done is there to stay.

Reuben Zammit

Sep 1st 2008, 10:48

"Ready to play our part to limit the extent of the feast"? Victor Gauci, kindly respect our intelligence. Fireworks were found in the Peace Band Club which is situated between the same band club’s premises and the Naxxar Nationalist party club. The band club is situated in a very busy main road (used both by cars and hundreds of pedestrians) opposite a petrol station. If some unfortunate accident had occurred, then The Peace Band Club ‘would have played its part to add too the extent of the tragedy that occurred in Naxxar’.

a.cassar

Sep 1st 2008, 10:38

Is it such a hard decision for the naxxarin to make about the festivities this year? These are the same people who were shocked beyond words some months ago. Put yourselves in the victims' shoes and imagine your feelings when you hear the sound of fireworks going off. What would go through your mind remembering that the last explosion you heard was the one which destroyed your home or even took your loved one forever?

effie carbonaro

Sep 1st 2008, 10:34

The Naxxar Peace band club has been closed for some months now.So why were permits issued for the band to hold marches?
Court proceedings are being held against the club and mr gauci should stop the band from holding more marches and await the court judgement.mr gauci what was the real reason for the stoppage of the feast marches?last week when the parish programme was distributed you were included in the street marches.why was the decision taken now?

J Farrugia

Sep 1st 2008, 10:17

Wise counsel prevailed. At least that is what the victims deserve. A period of meditation. and a mass for the repose of their souls. What about the other band club? Will its arrogant attitude continue? Why not make one joint ceremony in favour of the deceased victims instead of the band marches and celebrations? This year there should be no place for such marches etc., in Naxxar. btw, I am a festa enthusiast BUT, my heart goes out to the victims of irresponsible behaviour from fireworks manufacturers.

Charles Micallef

Sep 1st 2008, 10:13

We apprecaite that this has been a courageous and difficult decision to take especially for all those who worked hard all year long for their Fiesta, but this is morally the correct decision to take in light of the recent deaths.

Mario (Marinton) Gauci

Sep 1st 2008, 09:49

I have no sympathy whatsoever with the Naxxar Peace Band. As far as I am concerned, outdoor festivities should be cancelled as a mark of respect and the monies collected for such activities should be used to alleviate the plight of the victims of the fireworks tragedy.