Band marches are “secular activities” intended to entertain the public and since they fall outside the liturgical ritual of the feast the Church has no reason to control them, a leading anthropologist has said.
Extreme revelry, partisan insults, public drunkenness, obscene behaviour or noise are issues related to the disturbance of public order and if these public activities need “cleaning up” they should be dealt with by the police, according to Jeremy Boissevain from the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research.
Prof. Boissevain is a long-time observer of Maltese feasts and author of the book Saints and Fireworks: Religion and Politics in Rural Malta, first published in 1965.
He was reacting to the consultation document published by the Curia on Monday, which lists a number of proposals to control unruly band marches and feast celebrations.
“Over the past 50 years I have observed feasts gradually increasing in scale and colour. They are joyous events that celebrate the community,” Prof. Boissevain said, adding he was not in favour of imposing regulations that would stifle their spontaneity.
However, he did draw a distinction between band marches and other matters such as religious processions accompanied by bands, the ringing of church bells and the carrying of religious statues, which “would seem to fall under the jurisdiction of the Curia”.
However, according to Fr Anton Cassar, parish priest of St George’s parish in Qormi, revellers can celebrate the feast under the Church’s patronage if they agree to civil celebrations.
“If they do not want to adhere to the proposals they can celebrate all they want, whenever they want but not in the name of the Church or the patron saint,” Fr Cassar insisted.
Alan Mamo, assistant secretary of the Carmelite Society Queen Victoria Band Club in Żurrieq, felt the Curia recommendations raised a number of questions.
Speaking in his personal capacity, Mr Mamo said he could not understand why placing conditions on morning band marches, something which had long been discussed with the Church, were postponed to three years’ time and instead the Curia ventured into other issues.
The proposal that statues would no longer be permitted to leave the church except for religious processions may create problems for the Carmelite feast since the statue is permanently situated at the oratory.
“We have to take it out in the street to carry it to the church. If the ban also applies to us it would effectively kill the feast,” Mr Mamo said.
The Church proposals also seek to ban the extravagant “surprise” decoration normally unveiled during the morning band march, limiting the paraphernalia to balloons and flags.
“We had manufactured a large umbrella to be used during the morning march, primarily to shield people from the sun. Will this also be banned?” Mr Mamo asked, insisting that many young volunteers were disappointed by the proposals.
The secretary of the St Joseph Band Club in Ħamrun was less forthcoming in comments on the Curia’s suggestions.
Mario Spiteri said the document was distributed among the club’s members, adding he would not comment before the meeting that will be held for all band club presidents and secretaries on October 23.
The document is bound to create widespread discussion but Fr Cassar insisted the proposals were a good way forward to celebrate feasts in a “Christian and civil” way.
It was the Church’s function to regulate the way feasts were organised, he said, expressing disappointment that the proposals failed to tackle the issue of discos in band clubs after the march was over.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com