Tribute to traditions

There’s nothing like a bit of innovation to preserve an endangered tradition. So it’s perfectly understandable that, during the two-week build-up that precedes most village festas, it has become de rigueur for the każini to hold barbeques in village squares. In case the square happens to be a bit of a tight fit, one of the thoroughfares in the locality will usually do. Nor would this innovation be truly Maltese if it merely featured food and socialisation. Where would our culture be without a rickety stage with the parish church as backdrop, or at least a few banks of Marshall amplifiers?

As a resident of Naxxar I feel immensely privileged to have witnessed – a full two weeks before the date of the festa proper – two such events, held consecutively by two different clubs on August 26 and 27, one in the square, the other in St Lucy Street a few metres away.

In the first case, we had police barricades lest some hapless driver had failed to take note of the auspicious date; in the second, a few cars strewn across the street did the trick, though the effect was more “Tripoli after the fall” than “viva Maria Bambina”. No doubt there were wardens, strategically concealed in the alleyways of St Lucy.

I wonder if the Naxxar local council actually gave the go-ahead for these events to take place, and if so, whether it occurred to them that Mary Spiteri or songs about the glories of “in-Naxxarin” might not be to everyone’s taste. I wonder too why nobody seems to have the decency to inform – “warn” is probably a better term – the people who have to put up with this. Perhaps council members will themselves be considering a few barbeques in the streets come election time.

As for laws regulating the way we persist in polluting our environment with ever increasing levels of noise, they would probably constitute too great a threat to our traditions.