As the Acting President Dr. Anton
Tabone rightly said during his
speech in Tuesday's St Joseph Band
Concert, Ghajnsielem is "steeped in
culture, beauty and tradition".
These three simple (but powerful)
words are a perfect
reflection to our feast
dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto. The
aftermath comments from the masses
that braved the sometimes stifling
heat showed what a great feast
Ghajnsielem has just celebrated. And
indeed it was!
Now that life in Ghajnsielem has
again taken a slower pace it is now
time to share some random thoughts
and reflections.
Voluntarism
The feast involves hard work not
just in the weeks preceding the
feast when the street decorations
are put up by hard working youths
but throughout the whole year. To
give a few examples, preparation of
new street decorations such as this
year's pedestal in the main square
start several months before. The St.
Joseph Band holds weekly rehearsals
to prepare for its Tuesday's
concert. Fundraising activities are
held all year round. And let us then
not forget the large amount of
volunteers required during the feast
week itself... the parish clergy,
the Għaqda Armar, Għaqda tan-Nar,
Radju Lauretana crew, St. Joseph
Band, cleaners, helpers, flower
decorations,
bell-ringers and the many
others. And as soon as the street
decorations are put down and stored
within a week, work on the next
feast starts immediately with a
clear intention of making it if
possible even better then the one
celebrated.
I strongly believe that it is the
'enthusiasm'
and 'genuine
devotion' to Our Lady of
Loreto that drives our volunteers to
such a high dedication and
achievement. Although these
volunteers spend the majority of the
feast week working behind the scenes
to ensure that everything runs
smoothly, such hard work repaid with
a feeling of satisfaction and joy
when another successful feast is
over. Let us then show them that
their hard work us being appreciated
by giving them
positive encouragement and support.
Organization
One could easily notice the
satisfaction in the eyes of the
organizers after two long weeks of
activities because everything turned
out as they planned. The arrival of
the set of eight bells and blessing
ceremony were organized to the
impeccable last detail. The same
goes for the annual musical concert
organized by St Joseph Band which
this year was also synchronized with
fireworks. It was also refreshing to
see the youths carrying the statue
of Our Lady of Home on Thursday and
elevating it on the pedestal in
Independence Square with such high
enthusiasm. The procession was also
timed to perfection even though this
year's feast witnessed a longer
fireworks display in the opening and
closing stages. It must be said that
involvement of young people in
various activities augurs well for
the future.
Although the number of meetings of
the 'Feast Committee' is still
relatively low, the few meetings
that were held this year certainly
left a fruitful difference.
One may easily owe the smooth
running of the whole feast to the
strong sense of responsibility of
all those involved. A special
thanks must go to all participating
committees including the Ghaqda
tan-Nar, Ghaqda Armar, St Joseph
Band and the Parish Council. A
meeting should now be organized in
the next few weeks to give feedback
and make a proper analyses of this
year's feast. Ideally the general
public should also be invited
because a wider discussion will lead
to a bigger exchange of ideas.
Changes to the
external activities
This year's feast
program included a few changes aimed
at improving the external
festivities.
Thursday witnessed
the
the start of a new tradition when
the
the old statue of our Lady of
Loreto, popularly known as
'Il-Madonna tad-Dar' was carried by
several youths from Simirat Street
to Independence square where it was
then raised on a pedestal.
The titular statue of Our Lady of
Loreto was taken out of its niche
two weeks earlier thus giving the
opportunity for Monday's band march
from Garden Street to start later
and ending at midnight instead of
10.30pm. On Feast Day, for the first
time, the St Joseph Band started the
traditional march held before the
start of the
procession from its club's
premises instead of Apparition
Square. Apart from playing in front
of a larger crowd (compared to the
previous years), this symbolizes our
band leaving "home" (i.e. from the
club's premises) to welcome the
titular statue of Our Lady of
Loreto.
Marċ tal-Għeluq
The 'Marċ
tal-Għeluq' was also tweaked in
order to try to revive this
traditional band march. Kercem's St
Gregory Band replaced St Joseph Band
thus giving our bandsmen a
well-deserved rest after two weeks
of activities. The band march
started half an hour earlier then
the previous years from a different
location. In fact, at 10.30pm the St
Gregory Band started playing marches
from Chambray Street stopping in
front of the Ghajnsielem F.C. and St
Joseph Band's premises in front of a
huge crowd before continuing to the
main square. This contrasted well
with the previous years when the St
Joseph Band march used to start from
Apparition Square literally alone
with the general public waiting in
the main square.
Although this band march witnessed
so many changes,
once again no revellers participated
in this band march except for a few
young children which were happily
dancing the 'Viva x-Xemx'. We
have to accept the fact that
the original aim of the 'Marċ
tal-Għeluq' --
which used to be an excuse for the
volunteers who were busy during the
procession to celebrate the last few
hours of the feast -- has now
diminished.
Fingers can be pointed to the nearby
disco, tiredness or due to the fact
that the volunteers start
dismantling the street decorations
as soon as the titular statue enters
back inside the church. Some argue
that this band march should be
removed from the feast programme as
it is dying a slow death. But does
it make sense to remove this band
march and end all external
activities on Feast Day at 10.30pm?
If anything,
at least this band march provided an
additional two hours of
entertainment and a fitting end to
the external celebrations. One
suggestion might be to spend more
time front of the clubs to reach a
larger crowd. There is still
scope for discussion but however,
this year's changes were certainly
positive and a move in the right
direction.
Marċ
tal-Balzunetta
The local youths all dressed in the
same blue garment and holding the
watermelons in their hands have once
again celebrated in style. The
photos on
ghajnsielem.com
showing a massive crowd watching
hundreds of revellers celebrating
are surly a testimony of the
popularity of Friday's 'Marċ
tal-Balzunetta'. Outsiders tend to
attack our youths for the excessive
use of alcohol during this march.
However it must be pointed out that
there were no reports of fights, no
offensive lyrics, no swear-words and
no arguments between the revellers
or pique between clubs. Our youths
are showing a high level of
maturity.
The key for a successful feast lies
in moderation... Abuse of alcohol
should always be condemned through
positive educational campaigns. But
after months of preparation and hard
work by our willing volunteers let
them enjoy, have fun and make our
feast livelier and more jovial!
Fireworks
The 10th
December group responsible for the
ground and aerial fireworks this
year managed to attract several new
faces. And it was refreshing to see
these energetic youths organizing so
many fundraising activities
throughout the whole year. They
managed to raise more funds by being
pro-active instead of depending on
the usually door-to-door collection.
All fundraising activities were well
attended and this shows that the
people of Ghajnsielem are
appreciating their hard work.
The end result was a magnificent
fireworks program spread over two
weeks with a grand daylight
fireworks show (kaxxa tal-ħruġ)
which lasted over 10 minutes and
another spectacular 'Kaxxa tad-Dhul'.
Keep up the good work!
The spiritual
dimension
Ghajnsielem managed to find a good
balance between the
spiritual and temporal dimension of
our feast. Wednesday's Marian
vigil of prayers which is held in
the main square is an excellent
example of a spiritual activity that
blends with the external
celebrations. The beautiful liturgy,
the novena and the triduum were also
well attended by the Ghajnselmizi.
However, many observed that this
year's pontifical high mass on Feast
Day seemed to be less crowded then
the previous years with the last few
rows empty. Praise must be given for
the
splendid sacred music
and superb voices. The church
was also beautifully decorated with
flower-arrangements. Congratulations
to all those involved.
St Joseph Band
The unexpected
news received last June that the
musical archive will not be finished
in time for inauguration during the
feast did not dampen the enthusiasm
or derail the preparations for this
year. Instead, the executive
committee decided to focus all its
energy on finishing the main hall.
And in just a few weeks, the hall
was impressively completed down to
the last detail in time for
Tuesday's inauguration. The fully
equipped hall was praised by all
those who visited the club's
premises and will certainly start to
be used for all major functions and
social events held in Ghajnsielem.
Tuesday's musical concert was a
memorable one for many reasons. This
year the event was held in front of
the band club's premises which was
illuminated with several light
effects for the occasion. The
excellent rendering of the classical
pieces together with a combination
of modern music showed that the band
is reaching an excellent level of
accomplishment. The addition of
three sopranos accompanying the St
Joseph Band was also well received
by the present crowd and here one
can appreciate that the executive
committee is managing to attract a
larger and more diverse audience
beyond the traditional followers.
But the highlight of the evening was
certainly the fireworks display
which was synchronized with Mro
Sunny Galea's 'Melita'. The
continuous applause of the elated
audience on that evening was
definitely a vote of confidence to
all those involved in this
magnificent show.
It must also be noted that for the
first time, the St Joseph Band
sported a new uniform during
Friday's demonstration march. The
navy blue polo shirt with the golden
logo embroided on the front gave our
bandsmen a more comfortable and
fitting look during this colourful
march.
Superb Coverage
Radju Lauretana once
again managed to offer a superb
service which included several
live transmissions to cover both the
liturgical functions and external
activities which this year were
spread over two weeks. This gave our
emigrants, the elderly and bedridden
the opportunity to experience the
historic moments of the arrival and
blessing of the eight bells and Fr
Samuel's Prima Messa.
The statistics for Ghajnsielem.com
are also impressive. The website
registered over 6,400 visits and
over 30,000 of page views during
the two weeks of activities. A
staggering 1870 photos were published during
the feast week with an additional
830 photos covering the arrival and
blessing of the bells. The
Ghajnsielem Facebook Fanpage is also
proving to be very popular. In
the month of August 2011, the posts were viewed
by 83,846 fans while 597 fans left a
comment.
Both Ghajnsielem.com and Radju
Lauretana are building a digital
library of all the on-going events
in Ghajnsielem. The huge collection
of audio clips, video footage and
photos captured throughout the years
will prove be invaluable for the
preservation of our village's
history. Just imagine someone in
20, 50 or 100 years time
listening to a podcast recording the
moment of arrival of the bells in
Mgarr while viewing the huge
collection of photos taken on this
historic day.
A village full
of talented people
The diverse selection
of programs on Radju Lauretana and
the number of quality articles
written on the St Joseph Band feast
magazine are just two examples which
reflect the rich pool of talent that
exist in Ghajnsielem. Such a talent
must be encouraged and supported in
order to extract their creative
ideas for the benefit of our
village. Instead of spending the
whole summer holidays at the beach
or the afternoon during schooldays
watching TV, youths can be
encouraged for example to learn a
musical instrument with St Joseph
Band or develop their artistic
creativity by giving a help hand in
the 'maħżen'
where volunteers from the Ghaqda
Armar spend the whole year working
on new street decorations. Joining
the Radju Lauretana crew will also
give our children a good level of
experience in the media world.
There are plenty opportunities for
our children. So let us do our part
and ensure that such a great talent
is not lost.
The altar boys in a light moment
before the start of the pontifical
high mass
The Eight Bells
During a similar
article which I wrote two years ago
reflecting on the 2009 feast, I
noted that although we were passing
from a difficult period (economical
slowdown etc), the people of
Ghajnsielem are full of hope and
determination. And in fact, just two
years later and only four years from
the original announcement, the
Ghajnselmizi saw their long-awaited
dream coming true. The set of eight
bells are now among us after a long
journey which saw the people of
Ghajnsielem donated over half a
million Euros.
These delightful bells will give a
voice to a culture, and indeed to a
faith. The sound of the bells
tolling almost unendlessly in
jubilation during these two weeks of
celebrations altered the overall
atmosphere of the locals. Many are
taking the opportunity to view and
appreciate the beauty of these bells
before they will crown the majestic
bell tower in December.
The missing ingredient
The people of Ghajnsielem are lucky
to enjoying these bells and
celebrate the external feast
activities in such beautiful
surroundings. The imposing gothic
temple surrounded by
a large open space richly
dressed with feast decorations and
which also includes the two major
clubs and a backdrop of Lourdes
Chapel, Comino and the sea
is a luxury that only a few villages
(if any) can enjoy. The only missing
ingredient left is the bad state of
our piazza which is making the heart
of our village looking shabby and
abandoned.
I am sure that our forefathers who
worked so hard to built such a
beautiful area will not be impressed
to see main square in its present
state! Hopefully a solution will be
found quickly between all parties
involved in the best interest of the
people of Ghajnsielem.
And finally... it’s never too late
to pronounce it yet again
Viva x-Xemx! Viva l-Madonna ta'
Loreto!
