Happy Snappy

Malta is in full festa swing... Every village has one - a reason for the people of the village to go out, socialize, for local umpa-umpa-brass bands to play on the village square. It's all based on celebrating the patron saint of the village, and has been going on every summer for some 200 years. I like it - it's part of culture. But then again, I am hidden deep in Ghajn Tuffieha, an enclave too small to have a patron saint and am thus safe from being woken up by what sounds like canons being fired at 7 in the morning. The picture is from San Gwann, and in a way summarises Malta today.  A society clinging onto a very traditional form of Catholicism but flooded by modern culture...