Unholy rivalries

Another festa season is drawing to a close. It will come to an end with the feast of Our Lady of Graces at Zabbar on Sunday. Apart from the usual controversies over the firing of petards which only those involved in their production seem to appreciate and enjoy it has been very much business as usual.

There have been two notable exceptions, however: the cancellation by the Curia of the outdoor festivities of the Holy Trinity feast at Marsa and the tolling of bells incident at Victoria, Gozo.

With regard to the latter it was recently reported that the Leone Band Club is accusing the authorities of St George's basilica of allowing excessive pealing of bells during its traditional march on the morning of the feast of the Assumption "with the intention of trying to disrupt the event".

The claim has neither been denied nor confirmed by the parish priest of St George's who, according to reports, declined to comment. A spokesman for the Gozo Curia is also reported to have refused to comment on the allegation.

Without entering into the merits of the case, the alleged incident shows only too clearly the ugly face of the rivalries which characterise many of our festas. Those familiar with the local scene know only too well that what has been reported to have happened in Gozo is nothing new; indeed such incidents unfortunately are typical of quite a few of our festas and have been happening probably since their inception. Indeed worse incidents have occurred in the past both in Victoria and in other towns and villages of Malta.

This is a shame. That a small community, sometimes of a few thousands, should be so hopelessly divided when it is celebrating a joyful occasion connected with a hero or heroine of the Church to which all profess to belong is sad, indeed tragic. It speaks volumes not only of our own small-mindedness as a people but also raises questions about the depth of our faith.

True, division is only skin deep and once the festa week is over then things go back to normal and peace is restored. But why should we allow it to happen? "We" here means not only the ordinary man in the street but also those responsible for the celebrations, including priests and religious.

One may argue that such piques are part of our character, our culture and hence can never be eradicated. This is a defeatist mentality which we should also strive to overcome. Malta is not inhabited by Orangemen and Papists as in Belfast, where incidentally things recently have improved considerably. Malta's is one closely-knit community made up of people who speak the same language and profess the same faith, a faith which can never condone fanaticism, bigotry, division and hatred.

It's about time we tackled this problem with the attention and seriousness it deserves, a problem which lies dormant for eight months of the year but which raises its head every time May approaches and with it the festa season. A problem which has bedevilled this small community obsessed with saints and fireworks, band marches, rivalries and the tolling of church bells.