President to discuss feasts with parish priests

Steven Camilleri

May 11th 2009, 23:42

And yet no reply about st patricks day , to you all that think that we make our village feasts for tourists you are surely doing a big mistake doing that, we do it for ourselves, the people that respect us , our village ,and our patron saint, If the maltese people don't want festa then they will not contribute-end of story! We feast fanatics after all work and invent things with your contribution, and if tourists don t like our feasts then its up to them,its not our business, we do them because they are our tradition!

E.Vella

May 11th 2009, 22:10

ghal 4 bombi ha jgorru n-nies...mela jekk taghmel gimgha wara gimgha ma torqodx minhabba d-discos....naghlqu d-discos ukoll....uwejja ma ndahhkux....hemm bzonn li jkun hemm iktar ordni imma mhux li kollox qed idejjaqna issa...qata l-kacca mhux bizzejjed...x'affarijiet

Gerry Cowie

May 11th 2009, 19:56

Has anybody noticed the long term damage the petards do to the soft stone buildings which give Malta so much of its character? Whilst as an individual one may get used to the noise of the bangs - including the many carelessly let off in broad daylight - not only is it bad for the hearing but also for the buildings. What price are the people prepared to pay?

R Azzopardi

May 11th 2009, 18:47

@ Joseph Galea. May I remind you that even during the stay of the Knights of St.John in Malta petards were fired to celebrate feasts which date back to date time. Were the Knights of St.John also pagan and unchristian??May I remind everybody that village feasts are financed by the villagers' contributions .Band clubs and other entities taking part in the village festa are all made up of voluntary people working all year round.They don't earn any money doing this and many times they fork out money from their own pockets. I am in favour of village feasts which are within limits and in my opinion a substantial part of these already are.

C. Busuttil

May 11th 2009, 18:26

@Lawrence Calleja First of all its not marc tal-briju but marc ta' filghodu, second point if all those tourists are so disgusted why year after year they still come to enjoy our village festa. I know tourists that have been coming over for 40 years just to enjoy our festas. Tourists that come over, are overwhelmed at the unique atmosphere the maltese create during the feast. I am a photographer and in every locality I've been, I always meet tourists that speak highly of our feasts. Stop this misconception that in all band marches something disgusting occurs, with exception of a very few feasts, the great majority are well behaved. The problem is that the church does not have the courage to stop those feasts in which behaviour leaves much to be desired. One feast in particular is a political charade disguised as a feast. Fortunately they are few but unfortunately untouchables. You seem to speak for all maltese, no wonder you have no idea about the thousands that attend feasts throughout the weekends in summer. You have no knowledge about the subject since you only point at negative episodes or maybe at what you heard.

Joseph Galea

May 11th 2009, 18:23

Mr. President please ensure that you bring up the issue of the senseless petards that are a hallmark of many feasts. Let's have fireworks by all means, but do we need the almighty explosions that some (most) parishes seem to delight in even during daytime? All these do is scare children, pets, and distress the infirm, the elderly and anyone with a sense of decency. Please Mr. President ask them to stop this pagan ( or, at least, unchristian) practice.

Lawrence Calleja

May 11th 2009, 17:26

All band marches known as tal-brijju during the feast day should be abolished. It is not true that Maltese feasts are an attraction to tourists. I happened to work in the tourist sector and the majority of tourists are all disgusted with what occurs during these so called marc tal-brijju. Moreover feasts should be celebrated during three days i.e. from Friday to Sunday if it happens to fall on a weekend. Mr President the majority of Maltese citizens are all behind you.

c.camilleri

May 11th 2009, 16:18

Is the new President taking the role of a politician now?

Charles Micallef

May 11th 2009, 16:14

To All, Let us make something very clear, we should all be very proud of our Town and Village's Fiestas. It is always with pleasure and some pride to see the commitment of some of the voluntary contributions made by a lot of the village people who are dedicated to make their Fiesta a success and no one is against the fiestas in general, especially the religious content. What most level headed people are against, is the divisory pique that exists in some village fiestas. In Malta we have enough division in certain sectors of our society caused by those whose lives are dominated by the political scene and the pique that divides some of the village people is totally unwarranted in what it is a divisory society.

ray mangion

May 11th 2009, 16:03

Good start President. If you try and interfere by destroying the pique in festas, you will be destroying the beauty of what makes a tourist attraction throughout summer. Yes there are a few villages which are not responsible enough to control their pique, but this tradition should not be medled with. Those people who moan about noise pollution and the rest, you are free to go and live with the cows and the sheep in cold countries, if that is what they prefer. We have become an island of moaners.

c.camilleri

May 11th 2009, 15:56

@ Laurenence Schembri. Do you know who upgraded secondary feasts and gave them the same importance to that of the main feasts?

Stefan Gatt

May 11th 2009, 15:22

Jien personalment il-festi la jghogbuni u lanqas biss jinteressawni, PERO, nifhem li hawn hafna nies li il-festi huma d-delizzju taghhom. Mela f'dan il-pajjiz ha nispiccaw insiru robots? Mela min kellu d-delizzju tal-kacca, kellu jsib iehor u issa ha nnehhu l-festi ukoll? Il-kacca tifhima li hemm qtil fin-nofs pero l-festi ma nara xejn hazin fihom. Veru li gieli jkun hemm storbju esagerat u celebrazzjonijiet minn gimgha qabel, imma dak li jiddistingwixxina minn pajjizi ohra le?

Andrea Portelli

May 11th 2009, 15:18

Feasts ought to be removed altogether they are just a waste of money and cause divisions and problems by the simple minded people who have nothing better to do in their lives but compare and contrast their village saint with that of others

Elaine Zammit

May 11th 2009, 14:33

I hope that if they come up with any conclusions re the village feasts they do so within days not weeks since feasts start in less than a months time. Feast committees will have everything planned and booked by this time of year, after a whole year planning and working so hard to have a nice village feast like (if not better) than the previous years, for villagers to enjoy and also for tourists who come from abroad for the feasts!!!! thanks

STEVEN CAMILLERI

May 11th 2009, 14:04

Oh yes laurance abolish secondary feasts, that's what we will do!!, anti feast persons speak about alcohol, may I ask you why is ST PATRICK'S day celebrated in Malta? Not a Maltese feast, certainly not a feast celebrated in church ,and certainly not a non alcoholic feast, lets speak about that shall we?

marvin azzopardi

May 11th 2009, 13:08

I agree with Mr.Lawrence schembri.Secondary feasts should be ABOLISHED FOREVER!!!!!!!

Marvin Mizzi

May 11th 2009, 12:44

Lets hope that we do not go back to the time when the state INTERFERED with religious affairs -- we do not want to go back in history.

laurence schembri

May 11th 2009, 12:24

Secondary feasts in all villages should be abolished, in my village we have three noisy feasts in a matter of eight weeks, ludicrous.

Jonathan Cini

May 11th 2009, 11:51

I hope Mr. President meets also the Band Clubs Association as soon as possible since discussion has to be made with this group as well as with the Malta Police Corps.
Regarding division and pique, this is found in each and every feast. It can be internal - between the organisers themselves and external - between various group in the locality or between locality and another. Sometimes it goes over and above reason, but we must acknowledge that oftenly it is the result of different opinions about the way how a feast is going to be celebrated, no more, no less.
In principle I agree with President Abela's intention, but I have my reservations about the manner in which such discussion will be conducted.
I think that history has to repeat itself. Just as, long time ago, parish priests have helped, and formed band and social clubs, nowadays they should participate more proactively in the clubs' running. Most of them are elected Spiritual Directors of clubs and are doing their utmost, but it has to be said that not each and every one do his compulsory performance.
President Abela's strive should be for healing, not for prejudice.

ebusuttil

May 11th 2009, 11:51

@ "He had also said he would not attend village feasts where there was division and pique."

It should be interesting to follow President Abela and see which festas he is referring to. Some of them can easily come to mind - it is better not to mention any, but to wait and see!

D.Galea

May 11th 2009, 11:46

There is nothing to be discussed really, The state should be the sole governing entity & the police the only executive power under its authority. If the president wants to cut down on division in feasts, all he must do is decree so, & the church better cooperate with that. I wonder if the talk would need anywhere although the curia itself is rightly worried that this "feasts cult" has gone well beyond its control.

Armando D'Amico

May 11th 2009, 11:24

Il-Festi mhux parti mil-kultura taghna bhal ma hija il purcissjoni tat-tfal fil milied jew il festa ta L-Imnajdra ??? Ghalfejn ghandna noqodu inaqsu u inehhu il pika li hafna drabi tkun sabih ghax grazzi ghalija johrog il frott tax xoghol ta hafna zaghzagh li flok immoru jixorbu immuru jghinu il kazin tal parocca taghhom??

OVJAMENT hemm xjitrnaga bhal- Bombi kif semma Mr. Aquilina jew ix-xorb li jitqassam bla razan imma fl-istess hin irridu noqodu attenti li ma naqbzu l-imitu u nnehu il-gost kollu tal-festa Maltija

Jean-Pierre Aquilina

May 11th 2009, 11:04

This may be a good opportunity to discuss noise pollution - namely fireworks, and in particular the loud bangs which sound more like exploding bombshells and which have no other feature other than noise.

Oscar Cassar

May 11th 2009, 10:14

It will be interesting to note the outcome of such issue.