The downpours over the weekend marred some feasts around Malta, even forcing the cancellation of the procession at San Ġwann.

In Valletta, the statue of St Dominic spent some time under the arches in Republic Street when rain picked up during the evening procession.

“It was quite sad seeing the work that we’ve done over an entire year being washed away so fast,” Mark Bezzina from the external festivities committee of the Madonna of Lourdes in San Ġwann told the Times of Malta when contacted.

He explained that by Saturday evening, most of the street decorations that had been put up around the village had to be taken down as a precaution.

Small statues on pedestals were also covered in plastic when bad weather was forecast.

It was sad seeing the work that we’ve done over an entire year being washed away so fast

On Sunday, the usual morning celebrations proceeded as planned even though some other localities in the northern part of the island and Gozo were hit by a thunderstorm and mild flooding.

In San Ġwann, it started to rain as soon as the procession was about to exit the church, so the bearers of the Madonna of Lourdes carried the statue to the church’s main door, where the band played a few tunes on the parvis. 

“Cancelling the procession was a given, as it was raining heavily at the time and we could not risk damaging the statue, which is very old,” Mr Bezzina added. 

He said that although he did not form part of the fireworks team, he was told that the programme had to change due to the weather.

The parish priest of San Ġwann, Fr Emmanuel Abela, excluded the possibility of holding the procession on another day.

“God willing, we will hold the village feast procession next year,” he said.

In Valletta, feast enthusiasts were luckier, with many of them who spoke to the Times of Malta saying it was “a miracle” that their feast was not cancelled.

“We only had a slight drizzle so as a precaution we sheltered the statue of St Dominic under the arches in Republic Street. It was raining heavily but the clouds stopped at Blata l-Bajda,” Frederick Williams, public relations officer of the St Dominic external festivities committee, told Times of Malta.

He said the sparse rain brought rival groups together as they all lent a helping hand to dismantle the external decorations before damage could be done.

In Lija, the ground fireworks planned for Sunday evening were cancelled while yesterday’s procession route was shortened.

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