Rival band clubs shake hands

Two rival band clubs in Zabbar, whose feast was cancelled by the Curia following violent incidents last year, have decided to put their relations on a better footing.

In a joint statement, Maria Mater Gratiae Philharmonic Society and the St Michael Band Club said they had embarked on a process to revise an existing agreement between them to continue improving relations for the good of the feast of Our Lady of Graces.

They complained that the Church's decision to cancel the feast, which takes place in September, had been taken without any consultation but that it would be wiser for them to forget the past and work together to boost their relations.

And as a gesture of solidarity, the two societies were withdrawing respective complaints that the other side breached the existing agreement, they said. Such complaints were being investigated by a commission set up as part of an agreement between the clubs.

Fighting and the use of bad language by some people taking part in the celebrations had marred last year's feast in Zabbar.

In its decision, the Church had said that the liturgical celebrations would carry on as usual as would the pilgrimage of bicycles and motorbikes. However, the procession with the statue of Our Lady of Graces would take on the form of a pilgrimage.

If any person or entity applied for a permit from the civil authorities to hold an activity during the feast period, all celebrations and pilgrimages would be cancelled, the Curia had warned.

The Church had urged both band clubs to reach an agreement regarding their role in the feast.

In their statement the two band clubs, which disassociated themselves from the incidents that had occurred on September 10, said they regretted the way the decision to cancel the feast had been taken without any consultation after they had been requested by the investigating board to submit their views in writing.

With regard to the Church's invitation to reach an agreement, they noted that external celebrations of the feast had already been regulated through an agreement dating back to 1992. Most of the regulations on celebrations introduced by the Archbishop's Curia last year were already being implemented in Zabbar over the past 12 years, they said.

Therefore the societies did not need to reach a new agreement but only to renew the existing one, they said.