This is my first post for quite a while. It’s not surprising. It’s not so easy to write about a city’s culture and history when the local community is forced to cancel all public gatherings due to a global pandemic.
Quietly and behind closed doors, however, the Church has done its best to create a sense of new normality. The Parish Church of St. Lawrence and the Dominican Church of the Annunciation (Lunzjata) continued with their regular services, live-streamed to their congregations via Facebook pages. Members of the St. Lawrence community created a TV studio in the youth centre, broadcasting a mix of history, religious programming and light entertainment over two significant weekends: the weekend of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the church achieving collegiate status (which I wrote about previously); and the weekend closest to the ‘first Wednesday of Lawrence’ (about which I’ll write another time).
Externally, fundraising meals for both festa organisations were cancelled. Community barbecues, and pizza and pasta nights, were transformed into takeaway services with local organisers bringing food to your door. The annual community wine festival was, sadly, cancelled completely. The only true continuity with pre-Covid Birgu has been the bells, which have still rung, and the flags, which have still flown.
All of this is beginning to change and restrictions are gradually lifting. Bars and restaurants are now open, as are the churches, although a degree of social distancing is still required. At the Feast of Corpus Christi the Dominican brothers brought their altar to the main door of the Lunzjata church, and said Mass to a congregation gathered on the street. Some days later, during the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the clergy of the Church of St. Lawrence processed as usual into the main square.
The most significant lifting of restrictions has been the re-opening of the airport, and the re-booting of tourism. On 1st July the airport was opened to a limited number of countries, and by 5.00pm there were already a few tourists wandering around the city. Numbers are sure to increase, especially when the airport opens to flights from more countries on 15th July.
Malta celebrated the opening of its borders in the same way that it celebrates everything else: with the letting off of fireworks.
Fireworks are a national pastime in Malta. According to one tourist website they are the perfect symbol of the Maltese: “celebrational and loud”.
Fireworks were brought to the islands by the Order of the Knights of St. John, who staged firework displays on religious feast days, as well as to celebrate special occasions such as the election of a Grand Master. Today there are over 30 fireworks factories in Malta. Until the recent introduction of formal training and licensing, knowledge and skills were passed on from one generation to the next through hands-on learning. That is not, however, an indicator of a fixed, unchanging tradition. As Josef Camilleri, President of the Malta Pyrotechnics Association, said: “The older generation taught us a lot and gave us a lot of good ideas, but today’s youth have improved on these ideas so much, and there has been tremendous development in the creativity and skill of manufacturing fireworks. Apart from this, these days we use computerised systems to let off fireworks.”
A typical local firework display might cost tens of thousands of euros, but despite the high costs, firework factories are typically staffed by volunteers. The desire to support and enhance local festa celebrations inspires a huge commitment of time and money, with many enthusiasts seeing the factory as a second home. Their sense of commitment is encouraged by the typically Maltese spirit of competition between different festa organisations: everybody wants to be the best.
On a local level then, fireworks form an important part of festa celebrations. Throughout the summer months, displays can be seen most weekends in one part of the islands or another. There is also the Malta International Firework Festival, which usually features two or more local factories alongside firework designers from around the world. The climax of the Festival is an evening of displays choreographed to music, a technique that is recreated each year by the 10thAugust Pyrotechnic Association Vittoriosa during the St. Lawrence festa.
Despite the ongoing limitations to festa celebrations, the latest news is that this year’s St. Lawrence festa will still feature fireworks. Hopefully there’ll be some sense of continuity and despite everything the new normal won’t feel all that different. Definitely something to look forward to.