By Albert Fenech
Thud, whistle, flash and bang … strong memories of my childhood in the Maltese Islands and still form an integral part of my life today. These are the sounds of fireworks shooting out of their canisters, speeding and whistling off into the night sky, opening up in a flash of brilliance and finally dominated by a thundering bang.
Nowadays we look for the mental concept behind every kind of action. Why did a person do this and not that? Why did a person come here and not go there? Why this colour and not that colour?
My mental concept version of fireworks is that they are a statement to express that we are here and we are celebrating too. So, why are they so popular in Malta and Gozo?
These are small islands and in fact one can conceive them as one just large city. However, despite the smallness there is a plethora of different and varied customs and fireworks displays in towns and villages are a statement of that locality and its meaning.
I love fireworks and one friend once told me it is undoubtedly in my DNA although as far as I am aware nobody in my family was ever involved in their manufacture and firing although I did once have an uncle who managed to produce a firework screeching and screaming noise through a twist of his lips and another who loved to handle fire crackers during local band marches.
My upbringing in England took me away from all this except for times when we returned on holiday and I sorely missed the occasions, the illuminations and the bangs.
BONFIRE NIGHT
In London, Bedford and Lincoln where we lived over 15 years, and later as a temporary resident in Plumpton and Horsted Keynes I tried to parry this by being enthused by Bonfire Night on 4th November, but the lighting of sparklers and dancing around the bonfire did not fit the bill as a substitute.
In Malta and Gozo there are 78 Parishes, 63 in Malta and 15 in Gozo and six of these are national parishes because they have more than Parish Church in their locality, places like Valletta, Sliema and Qormi as well as Victoria in Gozo.
All of these enthusiastically celebrate an annual festa to honour their icon whether Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary or a Saint and besides the religious functions, band marches and fireworks are the highlight of the event.
Whatever the occasion, a new or renovated statue, the appointment of a Bishop, a favoured football team winning a trophy, a political party with a positive electoral result, the appointment of a new political leader … all have to be commemorated with thud, flash and bang … and preferably heard all over the islands!
FIREWORKS FACTORIES
Almost every parish throughout the islands has its own fireworks factory and mount their particular displays and some have their own particular trademark. All those manufacturing are pure amateurs with their own devotions and ambitions and all prepared to risk their lives in the volatile environment of gunpowder.
In the past, regular accidents were spectacular and fatal with tremendous explosions, deaths and charred body parts – but have never been a deterrent to scores of volunteers prepared to take the risks to manifest their local pride. The motto has always been “anything you can do, we can do better”.
Over recent years the Government has been forced to step in and issue strict regulations for safer handling as well as the noisy explosions and the security factor has become more positive.
THE METHODS
The skills have always been that of initially filling a cylinder with varieties of gunpowder – including colours – and providing enough power to fire it out upwards and into the sky.
Then an intricate number of time switches open the firework and more time switches open and power different formations, create minor and major explosions and then open the final firework.
This takes skill and the whole scientific process escapes my imagination yet the unpaid volunteers have no scientific qualifications and normally are poor achievers in the educational sector.
However, their skills have extended beyond Malta’s shores and Maltese fireworks teams are often invited to places like London and Sydney for New Year displays as well as the USA, Canada and a number of other places.
Some 27 years ago the Government, having assessed local popularity and the great interest and wonder expressed by tourists, began organising the Malta International Fireworks Festival involving mainly local manufacturers but annually inviting a number of overseas teams to compete for various prizes.
Sadly there were setbacks over the last two years with the onset of the pandemic. Many local festas had to be cancelled and hence also their fireworks displays and although some continued to display, these were highly restricted and did not match the real enthusiasm.
However, this year, to use the pun, the Festival went off with a bang and is being held from 20th April to 1st May. This entails displays in different localities around the Islands, fittingly enough starting over and ending over Valletta’s beautiful Grand Harbour.
There are also ground fireworks on poles and over the last five years the Mqabba factory has developed displays attuned to music rather than thundering bangs with the opening petards attuned to music.
Undoubtedly, fireworks are part of our Maltese DNA, and assert the statement “we are here!”
ALBERT FENECH
E/mail – salina46af@gmail.com
