Is it an ‘Il-festi tagħna lkoll’ syndrome?

At the time of writing, the decision that the parish feast of Żejtun will not be held still stands as a sign of mourning for the parish priest who died over a month ago. It has also been announced that as a result of a unanimous decision between all concerned the parish feast of St Paul’s Bay has also been cancelled.

Our festas are part of our national DNA

It is very clear that the debate about this issue touches emotional chords more than it touches rational ones. This should not be difficult to understand as our festas are part of our national DNA.

Moreover, the debate goes far beyond whether the period of mourning for a parish priest should be ‘x’ or ‘y’ number of days. It is now more of a debate about territoriality, ownership and control than about anything else.

The parish of Żejtun was privileged to be served by, among others, a very good parish priest and a similarly dedicated and much- loved assistant. Then two tragedies struck only six months apart. First there the untimely death of Fr René Cilia following a car accident; then, last month, Fr Eric Overend, the parish priest, died unexpectedly.

The Żejtun community was, and still is, traumatised. Some members of the parish community feel that the cancellation of the festa is piling on the trauma and they feel all the more bereft. Others see the celebration of the festa as a tribute to Fr Overand and Fr Cilia. Taking it away feels like another good thing plucked out of their midst.

The priests and the members of the Parish Pastoral Council proposed that the festa celebrations be cancelled as a sign of mourning.

The leaders of the band clubs, the fireworks enthusiasts and the volunteers taking care of the street decorations said that though the cancellation of the feast would affect them negatively, they would abide by the Curia’s decision.

‘Celebrate all aspects of the feast or cancel all’ was the choice proposed to the Curia, which opted for the second alternative

Many were the Żwieten who did not like this decision one little bit. One can very well understand this position.

Village festas are an important part of our culture. They are embedded in the collective consciousness of many villagers. Celebrating the parish feast is an occasion of collective pride, proving that ‘we’ are better than ‘others’. It marks a homecoming for many who live outside the parish, even overseas.

Moreover, festas give space to the artistic abilities of the pyrotechnic community and are an occasion of brisk business for many. The National Statistics Office estimates that about 1,000 people are in one way or another involved in the celebration of the 90 or so feasts celebrated between May and September.

The Archbishop heeded the wishes of the petitioners, giving the lie to those who tried to describe the Curia as intransigent.

The parish administrator prepared a working paper proposing a modified celebration of the feast. It was proposed that the Church liturgical ceremonies would be slightly different from previous years and that the Sunday procession was to proceed as it normally does. The paper also catered for number of band marches, several occasions for fireworks displays and the decoration of the streets used during the procession.

Unfortunately the associations which had previously promised to abide to the decision of the Curia gave the paper their thumbs down with hardly any discussion. ‘All or nothing’ said the missive sent to the Curia.

Unfortunately the Curia agreed to operate within the binary framework proposed when it opted for ‘nothing’. This undermined the Curia’s position presented so reasonably in its working paper.

It should have opted for the celebration of all the Church liturgical functions, as these are totally within its responsibility and, it believes, are the kernel and heart of the feast. Celebrating it, even in reduced form, could have contributed to the healing process of the community.

The real cause of the problem between the Curia and the Żejtun associations is not about the number of days of mourning for the late parish priest but about who ‘owns’ the parish feast. During the 1960s it was forecast that the process of secularisation would bring with it a diminution of the social relevance, if not the demise, of the celebration of parish feasts.

We have witnessed a diametrically opposite development. The social dimension of the parish feast increased in pomp and grandeur. A process of secularisation there truly was, but its development was different than that forecast. Instead of taking the form of a reduction in the celebrations of our parish festas it took the form of more intense celebrations, but independently or parallel to the ecclesiastical organisation. One should not be surprised.

The process of secularisation has manifested itself in many countries not through the reduction of the importance of religion but through its expression divorced from churches. The Curia still looks at parish feasts as its property, though open to the participation of several village associations, mainly band clubs, pyrotechnic enthusiasts and street decorators.

On the other hand, these organisations believe that ‘il-festi tagħna lkoll’. The parish priest and Church structures are considered to be as just one of the feast ‘owners’. The most they would concede is that the Church could be given the status of a primus inter pares (first among equals).

This has also been the main bone of contention that has bogged down discussions bet­ween the two sides since the Curia, in 2009, published a document aimed at reforming (or was it ‘restoring’?) parish feasts. That document has been the subject of discussions since then and progress has been registered on most counts bar this one, that is, where does the buck stop.

The festas still contain a germ of faith that is manifested in a social context. The Church should start to worry when faith, wherever it is placed, no longer has a social meaning. Should it be ready to give away institutional ‘ownership’ to save (and perhaps develop further) this spark of religiosity, if saved it could be?

The solution is not an easy one.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt