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This sense of belonging to an autonomous unit was very much alive. Without it one cannot explain how a handful of households were able to embark on the building of a large parish church. This happened in all six villages established in the eighteenth century. The people united their efforts and the little means that they could set apart, to build a new church. All able persons, males and females, offered a helping hand in the actual construction. The building of a new parish church at ta' Sannat initiated within less than a decade of the foundation of the parish (AAM, 1699: 488r; Bezzina 1989) was an enterprise far beyond the means of the about sixty households in the new unit. Nonetheless they ventured ahead and the new church was raised within a score of years (AAM, 1723: 639v; Bezzina, 1989).
These building enterprises had became possible as the economy of the island had by then begun a slow revival. The production ofvegetables and fruit which found a ready sale in Malta was rising steadily as was the size and efficiency of Gozo's irrigated areas (Agius De Soldanis 1746: 150-158). The cotton industry began taking a major place in the rural economy (Bezzina 1985:204-297). Finally the expenditure of the Knights on the repairs and the building of new fortifications increased the money in circulation. Thus when 4281 Scudi were spent on the works under-taken as a result of the general alarm of 1714-15 (Hoppen 1979:124), one immediately notices an increase in the contributions of the parishioners (AAM, 1723: 638r-640r; Bezzina 1989:204-207). The economic revival is very clearly reflected from parish accounts.
When construction work on the new parish churches was concluded, the villagers turned their attention to internal decorations. The acquisition ofany prestigious possession in the nearby parish was enough to goad the people to go out of their way to acquire something better for their own. This sense of rivalry with the nearby villages was a major factor not only in the raising of the beautiful churches of Gozo but also in creating a united village where internal divisions, in contrast with Malta, are negligible.The foundation of two or more confraternities within each parish, one cause of the internal divisions on the sister island, led to the acquisition of more works of art and other furnishings (Bezzina 1989: 194-197). The confraternities, besides fulfilling specific religious obligations, also helped in the process of consolidation on a social level. It was their regular meetings that taught the mostly illiterate people to organize themselves and to see to other needs of their community beyond those spiritual.
The parish confraternities eventually united their efforts to organize the parish festa - the pride of every Gozitan village to this day. The festa was a very small affair in the beginning, a sung mass and the distribution of something special like wheaten bread or imported wine to the poor. The economic revival led to the enhancement of the village festa with four subsequent elements: the organization of a procession, the illumination by firewood and oil lamps, the firing of mortars, and the participation of a brass band. These enhancements are first recorded from the early eighteenth century in relation to the mid-August festivity of Santa MarUa celebrated in the Matrice (Bezzina 1985: 135-143). Yet they were soon emulated by the villages, even by small ta' Sannat, where by 1749 the feast of Saint Margaret was quite an event (Bezzina 1989: 245-246).
The nineteenth century saw the addition of another very important element - the acquisition of a statue of the patron saint, the first being that of Saint George in Rabat in 1839, followed by the village ofxewkUa in 1845. The parading of the statue through the village streets brought the festa to a climax. These elements are the basis of the village festa to this day - a festa that even on the threshold of the twenty-first century still has the power to consolidate the villagers living in the village, elsewhere on the islands, or abroad.
The band-clubs came to the foreground in the second half of the nine-teenth
century with the formation of two well-organized clubs in Rabat (Grech
1988). They were soon invited to offer the services in the villages and,
it often happened, that closely lying villages brought a different band.
Thus if Gharb brought one band, the village of San Lawrenz which was dismembered
from Gharb, brought the other. The two band clubs, one might say, divided
the island of Gozo into two factions. This situation was partly diffused
with the formation of other bands in the larger villages, but the rivalry
persists to this day. The summer festivities could never be organized on
such a grand scale on a tiny island as Gozo without this healthy rivalry.
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Local Councils were established again between 1993 and 1994. Slowly but surely, the leading role in the further consolidation of the village unit is shifting from the church and the local band club or festa committee to the Council. This is happening as the Council is a legal entity with clearly set objectives and wider interests. This will slowly help to diversify the interest of the villagers beyond the church and the festa to such fields as the general upkeep of the village, the better appreciation of its cultural heritage and the promotion of local talent.
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