The president of the national carnival association fears the festivity will be impacted for years to come by its cancellation for the first time since World War II.
Due to the restrictions on group gatherings because of the pandemic, this year carnival will take the form of virtual activities and installations of static floats. Nadur's spontaneous carnival will also not be held this year.
Speaking to Times of Malta about the historic decision to call off the festival, which dates back over 500 years, Clint Axisa, the president of the Malta Association of Carnival Participants, said the disruption to funding and to the well-established systems that drive the four-day festival was “immense”.
“The impact of the pandemic on carnival will be felt for years to come. It will depend on us enthusiasts, and culture bearers, to be able to keep the group together and make it through this tough time,” he said.
What is worrying key carnival players the most is that the groups of volunteers that have dropped off this year due to the cessation of events will not return and won’t be replenished in time for next year’s event.
“Preparations for carnival activities tend to start in September or October and they depend largely on the help of volunteers. They are of great value to the carnival companies and many of them have gone on to volunteer with other organisations,” Axisa pointed out.
In addition, finances had also been affected, with many sponsors they relied heavily on asking “to skip this year”.
“People believe that we are not organising carnival this year. They don’t see we are still working behind the scenes and spending money to produce high-quality floats,” he added.
Float and costume makers had still been deployed to work, he said, and apart from the static floats positioned in key areas in Valletta and on central roundabouts, a costume competition would be taking place at St James Cavalier.
Axisa, who is also the man behind King Carnival, said the famous float would this year be stationed in the Triton square, bearing a special message about the virus.
Axisa was born into a family of float makers, with his company Landa, named after his father, in operation for 26 years.
Contacted by Times of Malta about the significance of this year’s cancelling of events, theatre studies professor Vicki Ann Cremona said the last time the festival was completely brought to a halt was during World War II.
In her book, Carnival and Power – Play and Politics in a Crown Colony, Cremona also writes that during World War I, the Maltese refused to halt street festivities, despite the British Governor’s repeated pleas.
Lord Paul Methulen stopped the Palace Ball in 1916, believing it was inappropriate to celebrate since there were so many men losing their lives, but he was unsuccessful in pulling the plug on all other activities.