In the past, there were religious processions during “holy” week. Nowadays, these processions are no longer enough. They have been upstaged by spectacles and shows.

An over-the-top “pageant” was recently showcased at Valletta, during which three band clubs marched through the streets, 400 actors played biblical characters from both the Old and New Testaments and live animals were on show.

In the past, there were tacky tableaux depicting “last suppers”, displayed in parish halls. Nowadays, they are “live pageants” in a “restored 400-year-old tower”.

Religious processions nowadays are lavish in true showmanship style. At Victoria, the Palm Sunday procession featured 300 participants dressed in biblical costumes as well as “papier-mâché statues, dressed in rich velvet robes in pure Siculo-Spanish tradition”. These statues were promoted as “masterpieces” in this newspaper’s events calendar. They are, in fact, typical examples of the aesthetic horrors of Maltese and Gozitan devotional “art”.