Control would ‘stifle’ band marches

Roderick Cristina

Oct 8th 2009, 11:56

Nixtieq nigbed l'attenzjoni ta min qed jejd li Festa tal- Hamrun hijja l'inkwiet kollu habba marc ta' filghodu, nistiednu jsaqsli lill- Awtoritajiet tal- Knisja u specjalment lill- Pulizija u jejdlu kif marret il- festa din is- sena specjalment.F'dan l'ahhar snin kien qed ikolna Festa ezemplari specjalment il- festa ta din is- sena frottkbir tal- hidma taz zewg Kumitati tal- baned fil Hamrun u kummisjonijiet Zghazagh rispettivi. Ahna sfortunatament bqajna bill badname wara li stargi tan 1987 li mux sewwa.Festi ohra sfortunatament kellhom inkwiet ferm aktar frekwenti imma peres li l'Marc ta filghodu fil- Hamrun hu l'akbar marc li jsir fil gzejjer Maltin(u dan mux nejdu jien imma tejdu l'Knisja u pulizija) fil- mira dejjem ikun hemm il- marc tal- Festa ta San Gejtanu. Min gie festa taghna u jrid ikun ragel jaf li ghandi ragun.Wara kollox ahna mux ma nies barra Hamrun irridu nidru ta nies imma ma l'awtoritajiet,kif wara kollox qed naghmlu.HADD m'ghandu dritt ihamegg il- festa taghna!
grazzi
Roderick Cristina
PRO
Socjeta muzikali San Guzepp
Hamrun - A.D.1889

Carlo Ciscaldi

Oct 8th 2009, 11:26

Mr. Busuttil and Mr. Farrugia,

What right do you think you have to pin-point Hamrun's festa and make such sweeping statements on it?, and treat the people in Hamrun as a group of people who do not deserve to enjoy a festa like others. Are you sure that certain wrong-doings in festas occur only in hamrun, and the solution is to eliminate Hamrun?. . Your comments are really unfair and you really give the impression not to know anything on the topic. If so you should complain on the big noise petards do during the festas and stop there is you are not involved hands on and 100% sure of what you are talking about.

j n ebejer

Oct 7th 2009, 22:08

The way band club suppoters in Haz-Zabbar, manifest themelves is not even decent let alone religious.
The movable decorations - a cacophony of bad taste of iron contrapations -like a giant umbrella of a 20 metre diametre costing quite a lot of money, are pathetic and ridiculous.
Anyone in for culture, tradition, good taste and want for good community celebration would not want to associate himself with such degeneration.
In fact the majority of those partecipating are youngsters who indulge in alcohol drinking spree from the evening before and who have no notion of the villiage traditions history or sometimes association.
Do us a favour Chjurch authorities - do not connect our religious belief with such manifestations - you offend us. Do not carry out street manifestations during the same days such things happen.
To those who enjoy this type of behaviour -Celebrate in this way band club day, village day carnival or everything accepted day but not the patron saint -this way you will have even less opposition than you have to indulge in your excess bad taste spree.

c. camilleri

Oct 7th 2009, 18:34

We have been calling on the Church Authorities to stop our feasts from degenerating into pagan ones for a long time. Now that the Church has decided to act and bring back some christian value into our feasts there are so many opposition. It seems that the Maltese gemgem are never satisfied and always find something to complain about.

Paul Vassallo

Oct 7th 2009, 16:41

If morning band marches are paid for by the church like in in the place that i live in,then the church can dictate and restrict to what the curia wants, as a matter of fact this local church engaged an outside band and not the local band for the morning march.The restrictions applied and hardly any one followed or watched the morning march..

Joe Scerri

Oct 7th 2009, 16:28

.../cont

Now the duty of the Church is to help society preserve its virtues and values. So even if this was happening outside the realm of the Church, it would still be her duty to point to what is right. The fact that other forces are riding (and were allowed to ride on a liturgical celebration makes these reports the more relevant.

However the question about the role of the civil authorities is still a valid point. The problem is if police had to intervene (and I believe they should intervene like English police dos in football grounds), it will probably implicate il-'ministru' (irrespective of the party in gov). Now everybody nows that the festa is a fertile ground for our politicians especially the morning march. So this is a very complex issue. AS to the criticism levelled at the Church for collecting money, I believe the document is addressing that as well. The thing is you donate only if you want and to whom you want.

Now I like festas and I participate in them. But I really wish that our festas get cleansed from all that distorts their true meaning and scope.

Joe Scerri

Oct 7th 2009, 16:21

@Ray Mangion

You invited the Church to look at the Bible and the Bible I shall quote:

St Paul to the Galations 5:19-21:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

and from St Paul's 2nd Letter to the Corinthians 12:20:
"For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder."

btw the Maltese version of 'factions' is translated as 'partiti'!

It can't be clearer than this. Right? cont/...

C.Busuttil

Oct 7th 2009, 15:54

@Galea L.

Although I agree that in some, I repeat some feasts, behaviour leaves much to be desired, however in the great majority of the local feasts the things you mention do not occur. The church as usual doesn't have the courage to pick out those feasts that have given the rest a bad name and suspend them for good. Take Hamrun for example this feast is just about the Sunday morning march and nothing else, its void of all elements that make a Maltese feast, that is religious celebrations, Street decorations and fireworks. Well if the church wants to be credible it should start with them and not the rest. You simply cannot punish the feast of Burmarrad lets say so, just because in Hamrun they did not behave. Most Festa enthusiasts have found nothing wrong in the document, except that no distinction is being done if one feast does not follow the directives, the rest get the blame too.
PS- The document fails to mention that those who do not like external celebrations have no sorts of excuses about internal celebrations.

J Gouder

Oct 7th 2009, 15:45

I agree with Prof. Boissevain. In my opinion, the feast celebrations have evolved into a unique Maltese tradition, and it is also a good occasion for people from the village/town to socialise and get together in general for a few days. In summer I just love going from one festa to another every weekend.. for the fireworks, a good time with friends and a hot dog :)

Ok so maybe they have become secular.. But the curia has no right to abolish these activities, which thousands of Maltese people enjoy every summer. I have relatives who come from abroad just for the village feast.

On the other hand, it is true that in certain villages/towns, pique and trouble is notorious, and in fact I stay away from those particular festas. But that should be taken care by the police. This week i read on the BBC website that police in Australia enforced limit on alcohol intake by revelers at a popular annual race (24 cans of beer per person). I think that's a good idea and i'm sure our local police could come up with similar ideas...

Charles Grech

Oct 7th 2009, 15:39

What needs to be controlled are the very loud fireworks bangs that disturb babies, old people, those sick in bed, and others who have to sleep because of shift work.
Can these be made less noisy,please

A Grima

Oct 7th 2009, 15:38

Prof. Boissevain is right. The spectrum of obscenities one regularly sees at the village feasts are a clear manifestation of primitive pagan ritual, nothing more. I have to agree with the Curia that if you want to celebrate a Catholic feast, and not use the feast as an excuse to get drunk, swear your head off or fight, you must obey the rules of the Church.

Galea. L

Oct 7th 2009, 12:16

While not trying to stifle developments, the developments we've seen in band marches are simply a total baccanalia, discos with deafening music, trading of insults with the opposite band club, fights, blasphemy with the opposite side patron saint even if they are St Joseph and Our Lady, grotesque figures such as lions, bigger and bigger umbrellas, throwing of water on the people in the streets, and similar idiotic developments which have absolutely nothing to do with the liturgical feast and are actually a dishonour to Catholics and the patron saint. I agree with the report that these should all be reigned in. Since the public authorities did not seem to take the initiative, the responsibility fell on the Church authorities to do what is necessary to reign in these excesses and bring back solemnity to the religious feats which is after all what the believers are supposed to be celebrating in honour of the patron saint.

Ray Mangion

Oct 7th 2009, 12:03

Instead of the church doing what it is supposed to do, that is to encourage and draw people of all ages to church, they are rubbing salt in the wound. They are such hypocrites and should refer to the Bible and will soon realise that history is repeating itself. Hypocrites ,when the church is forever asking for money to celebrate the feast they partonise and I`m not talking about one euro; much more is expected to be put in these `Judah` envelopes they spread into every household. There is nothing wrong with traditional morning marches with some friendly but sarcastic poetry thrown at the opposite club. Ghanja is exactly that and there have never been any complaints in that field. Festas are what Malta has left that is traditional and that tourists love and enjoy, including fireworks. It is an absolute insult thrown at all those very hard workers and life risking jobs to make the village festa a successful one. Church is a hypocrite organization through and through. Leave festas alone.

J Farrugia

Oct 7th 2009, 11:56

The less the Hamrun bands talk about these regulations the better for them. Since it was them who rjuined all the religious elements in our festas. Their political fighting during the feasts, the long hours of their morning march, the lack of church attendance during the week long celebrations are all part of this mayhem which has riddled out festas and turned them into pagan orgies. Yes the church is right in stopping all this obscenity in the name of God.

J Farrugia

Oct 7th 2009, 11:53

We dfont want money to dictate how to celebrate or not to celebrate our festas. I say this because it is obvious that the local business is really upset that these regulations will deprive them of the immoral profit they make by selling alcohol, beers, minerals and other fast foods. Yes they have a big hand in this religious pie. And yes this also has to stop. We have to get a cooling off period to stop all abuses being carried out in the saints names.

J Farrugia

Oct 7th 2009, 11:48

I dont agree with those who say that controls stifle band marches. Yes there should be proper control and not by the club committess. But by the police. and if they persist in these pagan traditions, then yes, the morning march will have to be discarded. It will have to stop. And this is being stated by those who really love our village festas. We certainly can do without the morning march. at least we wont see any more obscenities being perpetrated by those irresponsible elements, in the name of the Catholic Church and its saints. This is immoral.

edward bartolo

Oct 7th 2009, 11:20

Why don't the band clubs organise their own festive activities outside and with no connection with religious feasts then? As long as their activities accompany religious feasts, their activities have to conform with the gospel, and this is what the church authorities are trying to say.

Religious feasts are, by their very definition, tied with religion. It is completely illogical to say that the church should have no say - the church has a lot of responsibility to teach and guide.

In my opinion, the document issued by the church is very cautious and well balanced. Well done, church authorities.

George Saliba

Oct 7th 2009, 10:33

I am in full agreement with Prof. Boissevain. The morning band marches are one of the few occasions of spontaneous celebration left on the Island. The atmosphere is unique. Do not ruin it and bring it to the level of our insipid Carnival. The Church should have nothing to do with band marches these are secular celebrations and not liturgical ones.

Mark Cushcieri

Oct 7th 2009, 10:24

Finally a discussion of intelligence...the church cannot control what happens outside the church...it is for the justice and order to decide. So back to your preaching book please. And if there is a law from 1935? this should be amended and modernised...the church does not have any power anymore..the times of the inquisition are OVER. Ordering us what to wear and how to behave. Pathetitic attempt.

Paul Caruana

Oct 7th 2009, 10:19

Frankly, it is insulting to have Jeremy Boissevain telling us how we should set the conditions for his social experiments.

Enough is enough - the pagan excesses, which are an insult to the supposedly religious nature of our festas must be removed.