Ritual, tourism and cultural commodization in Malta : culture by the pound?

Abstract

For some time now I have been trying to understand the apparent growth in the scale of public rituals, both in Malta and elsewhere in Europe since the early 1970s. Carnival, neighbourhood feasts, traditional rural weddings and fairs have been revitalized in the Netherlands and Germany. In Spain, Italy and Malta there has been a general increase in carnival, festas and Holy Week celebrations. Even Swedes. are organizing carnival type 'samba-festivals', complete with samba schools, costumes and processions (Boissevain 1984, 1991, 1992; Koster, Kuiper en Verrips 1983; Weber-Kellerman 1985; also see Manning 1983). One set of explanations that keeps cropping up attributes this expansion to the growth of leisure time, commercialization and tourism (Werdmblder 1979; Manning 1983; Weber-Kellerman 1985). In this chapter I wish to explore to what extent commercialization of culture to attract tourists is taking place, and, if so, what effect it has had on parish celebrations in Malta.