Fifty years ago, Dutch anthropologist Jeremy Boissevain – who, at the time, was residing in Malta to study the village of Kirkop – had predicted that, as a consequence of local communities becoming more outward looking and mobile, village feast rivalries would become a chapter of the past.

A quarter of a century later, he admitted that he had been wrong in his prediction and that feasts retained their anthropological importance.

That is a victory for local traditions. On a social level, feasts give us a sense of belonging and pride. They also strengthen the community and, in a country with hardly any buffer zone – both physical and social – between towns and villages, feasts help build the social topography of a locality. They are also a vehicle through which traditions pass from one generation to the next.

However, this victory has its victims who are discovering that feasts are playing an anti-social role. Take fireworks.

Fireworks are both an art and an attraction but, taken to extremes, they become a nuisance and irking certain people to the point they call for a ban. It is not unusual for localities to start letting off fireworks from 8am till late at night. It ought to be borne in mind that, according to a report by the European Environment Agency, Malta is one of the most extreme cases for noise pollution in Europe.

As in many other things, prudence and moderation are a must, also because fireworks are dangerous too. Just last Saturday, four people were injured by fireworks during the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii in Marsaxlokk.

Compared to the time Boissevain did his study, feasts have also become more sophisticated and costly. Whereas a few years back feasts used to have a clear beginning and end, they have now spawned events ranging from street parties to concerts. This means that for a good four months of the year one risks facing noise nuisance, upheaval and major traffic havocs.

Even decorations are causing problems, not in themselves but because of where they are placed. This newspaper recently reported that the National Commission for Persons with Disability spent the past year trying to stop street decorations from obstructing pavements and wheelchair ramps.

Nobody is making a case against village feasts. They are very dear to the Maltese people and so attractive to visitors. What is being said is that these traditional manifestations should be about patron saints and people. Thus, they cannot be respected at the cost of disrespecting people.

One should also be clear about the real definition of traditions. At the way things are going, the festa tradition risks being dealt a fatal blow if towns and villages persevere in turning these events into a senseless effort where the real purpose of the traditional village feast is lost and where, rather than joy, they end up causing pain and distress.

There have been quite a few occasions where extreme rivalry went overboard, even resulting in violence and the urge to outdo ‘competing’ localities in terms of fireworks displays resulted in excesses that led to inconvenience and explosive situations, literally.

All stakeholders need to come together to take stock of the situation and decide on what must be done to ensure that while acceptable village feast rivalries would not become a chapter of the past they remain a traditional and religious unifying factor.