Insight: Fireworks, Bands and Saints

When petards explode deafeningly overhead it might sound as if war has broken out, but don’t worry, it is just another of Malta’s many festas.

Like Christmas and Easter, the festa is one of the most important events in the Maltese calendar. Festas used to be celebrated all year round, but recently they have been restricted to the May–September season, when good weather is all but guaranteed. There are some 30 different festas celebrated each year throughout the islands.

Once upon a time, the festa was exclusively a religious event, but nowadays it is more simply an excuse for a village celebration, with big bands, fireworks and a procession. It has also changed from being a one-day event to a weekend of festivities.

A festa literally gets off to a bang with exploding petards, but the real celebrations begin in the evening, when the villagers come out en masse wearing their finery. The local church, too, will be splendidly dressed with red damask hangings, the altar garlanded with flowers and the best silver­ware on display. Outside, the church will be brilliantly illuminated by hundreds of light bulbs. The streets are also decorated, and vendors sell all sorts of fast foods, from pastizzi to hot dogs and chips. Accompanied by more petards and a brass band, the statue of the village patron saint is paraded through the streets. The day ends at around 11pm or later with a superb firework display – both aerial and floor-mounted, and usually to music.

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For the week of its festa, each parish church will be lavishly dressed with twinkling lights and vibrant drapes. Inside is just as festive, so it’s well worth popping in for a peek.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Battle of the Bands

Every town and village in Malta, and some­times even every parish, has its very own brass band – or in some cases, two.

It all started with the British, who imported their military brass bands for displays of pomp and pageantry. When the locals wanted to start their own bands, the British encouraged them, and officials of the band clubs even­tually came to wield political, not just musical, power.

Today, bands and their band clubs are highly popular, and during the festa, every house and car will be playing their band’s marches at top volume. In fact, so great is the pride taken in the prowess of local bands that, occasionally, fights break out in the streets as rival fans and clubs clash. Police and parish priests now monitor the marching routes and try to make bands pass through friendly streets rather than through rival territory. Visitors are definitely encouraged to join in, and will be welcomed into the revelry with open arms, especially if they’re swigging from a bottle of local Cisk beer. It’s best to wear old clothes, though, as things can get messy!