Archbishop Paul Cremona has expressed his “sadness” at improper behaviour during parish feasts, which are often marked by excessive drinking and parish rivalries.
The Maltese festa continues to be an institution of Maltese religious life, marked by raucous displays of drunken revelry in the streets, and often marked by bitter feuds between rival parishes in the same village.
In a message to feast organisers delivered last week in Floriana, Cremona talked of his “sadness” at “unworthy and un-Christian behaviour” during band marches, which he said “fogged the religious sense of feasts”.
He also mentioned his sadness at the death of pyrotechnics manufacturers who lost their lives, eight in all, last year.
Commenting on a social phenomenon of the Maltese which has grown in the years since Independence, despite lower church attendances, Cremona said parish feasts helped worshippers pay homage to their patron saints.
“However, we can’t forget to celebrate saints in the way Jesus Christ fashions this celebration; as something that promotes love and not division.”
Cremona expressed his wish that revellers during parish feasts “give glory to God” and to give back the celebrations “their Catholic sense”.
Cremona also paid tribute to various band clubs who were striving for more unity between the clubs, saying the amount of people and voluntary helpers who keep the tradition alive were motivated by the holy mass itself.