A health and safety course is to be offered for feast enthusiasts by the Ghaqda Nazzjonali Armar tal-Festi fit-Toroq in the next few months.

President Godfrey Farrugia told a symposium held by the organisation this morning to highlight the fact that Maltese feasts were a mirror to what makes one Maltese, that member organisations should ensure that at least one or two of their members took the course.

The organisation, he said, would also be issuing a code of ethics and guidelines for the setting up of feast decorations and how to store them.

Papier-mâché expert Victor Caruana called on cultural authorities to give more import to this as an art form.

People, he said, associated papier-mâché with a form of disposable art when in reality some parishes had the papier-mâchéir statues which were up to 300 years old.

Police Assistant Commissioner Neville Aquilina encouraged organisations to ensure that feasts did not get out of hand.

It was not the responsibility of the police to organise feasts but to keep the peace, he said.

AC Aquilina said that although pique was good to fuel a competitive spirit, this should not be excessive.

He called on the organisations not to give on to pressure from young enthusiasts who viewed feasts as a mere party.