Veteran Dutch anthropologist Jeremy Boissevain has passed away, aged 87.

Prof. Boissevain settled in Kirkop in the early 1960s to carry out intensive fieldwork and study Maltese feasts and fireworks.

He had said in a seminar in 2011 that fireworks split the country between those who loved and those who hated them. There was a “certain class distinction, with a tendency for the working class to be involved and others to look down on them”.

He said that while in1960, there were 50 band clubs, which increased to 83 in 2010; 27 localities had two or more as opposed to 19 50 years earlier. Feasts had also grown from three days to a week.

His publications include Saints and Fireworks: Religion and Politics in Rural Malta, and Hal-Farrug: A Village in Malta.