2018 Maltese festa at Greystanes on October 7
OLQP festa committee president Lisa Bright explains the significance of the annual Maltese festa at Greystanes — besides the thousands of pastizzi and bottles of Kinnie to feed the masses.
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OLQP festa committee president Lisa Bright explains the significance of the annual Maltese festa at Greystanes — besides the thousands of pastizzi and bottles of Kinnie to feed the masses.
I CAN remember going to the festa at Greystanes my whole life.
I am in my early 40s and the festa — Maltese for festival — is something my family attended every long weekend when I was little.
As I grew with my own family, I would miss some festas as we would go camping. But once the festa moved away from the long weekend it again became a highlight of our family’s calendar.
My first memories of festa was seeing family and friends. Everywhere you turned there was someone you knew. At 8pm, we would go to our friend’s place who lives opposite the park and watch the fireworks and eat pastizzi. It was awesome!
I love the community atmosphere. The festa is about giving thanks for all we have been blessed with. It is also a reminder of where my heritage lies and I’m excited to share this with my children.
Festas are vital in Maltese culture as they celebrate the patron saint of a particular village. In Malta the festivities go for a whole week and if you go to Malta in the summer months you will find three or four festas on every weekend.
The feast day in honour of Our Lady of Victories, now known in Greystanes as Our Lady Queen of Peace, has been celebrated in Malta across three centuries to mark the protection and intercession of Our Lady in three significant sieges — the siege of the Turks in 1565; the occupation of the French in 1798; and the joint attacks of the German and Italian armies with Operation Hercules in 1942.
The Maltese people believe that through faith, prayer and dedication to Our Lady, she came to their aid.
Over a conversation recalling the festivities in Malta and a strong desire to bring celebrations to Greystanes, a group of friends decided to raise funds by collecting glass bottles and exchanging them for cash. The first festa of what was then known as Our Lady of Victories was held in 1965.
Our parish has grown into a multicultural family with more than 75 nationalities coming together to celebrate Our Lady Queen of Peace.
We are very excited about this year’s festa. We begin with Mass at 3.30pm and then the traditional procession with a statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace followed by traditional rides and entertainment.
A Maltese festa isn’t a proper festa without pastizzi and Kinnie. We expect to sell about 700 dozen pastizzi and about 1000 bottles of Kinnie.
Paint the town red and white
WHAT: Maltese festa
WHERE: OLQP, Braeside Rd, Greystanes
WHEN: Sunday (Oct 7)
TIME: From 3.30pm