A visit to Hamrun is hardly on anyone’s bucket list but once a year the Hamrunizi let their hair down and it’s quite an experience...
Hamrun is a largish and mostly nondescript working men’s town just a mile or so outside Valletta. By Maltese standards it is a relatively “new” town, its lavishly decorated if stylistically confused church only being completed in 1875 and the town itself only becoming a parish in 1881. Hamrun has a wide and fine shop-filled main road which is unfortunately also the main trunk road from Valletta to Rabat and Mdina and therefore choked with traffic at most times of the day. But for one day a year all the traffic disappears and Saint Joseph’s High Road becomes the largest pedestrian area in Malta as Hamrun celebrates the feast of its patron – the somewhat obscure Saint Cajetan.
Hamrun is a largish and mostly nondescript working men’s town just a mile or so outside Valletta. By Maltese standards it is a relatively “new” town, its lavishly decorated if stylistically confused church only being completed in 1875 and the town itself only becoming a parish in 1881. Hamrun has a wide and fine shop-filled main road which is unfortunately also the main trunk road from Valletta to Rabat and Mdina and therefore choked with traffic at most times of the day. But for one day a year all the traffic disappears and Saint Joseph’s High Road becomes the largest pedestrian area in Malta as Hamrun celebrates the feast of its patron – the somewhat obscure Saint Cajetan.
The feast of Saint Cajetan is celebrated on the Sunday following the 7th of August (this year on the 10th). What the feast lacks in the fireworks department (there are hardly any open spaces around the town which allow for sizeable displays) it however makes up with its band marches.
The evening marches are spread out over a whole week but it’s the traditional Sunday morning march that is the real peak of merriment and boisterousness. The town’s two band clubs of St. Joseph (nicknamed Tal-Miskina) and St.Cajetan (Tat-Tamal) participate in this march and both attract a sizeable crowd of followers, loyally dressed in the clubs colours – blue and red respectively. Due to the immense rivalry between the clubs the band marches take a different route and do not meet. Both marches are also obliged to start and end at the same time – start time is normally around 11am and the marathon marches continue until 3pm, usually in blazing sunlight and temperatures hovering around the 30c mark. The clubs also have a signed agreement not to let things get out of hand and this is religiously adhered to – not least because there are hefty financial penalties relating to any departure from acceptable behaviour.
The evening marches are spread out over a whole week but it’s the traditional Sunday morning march that is the real peak of merriment and boisterousness. The town’s two band clubs of St. Joseph (nicknamed Tal-Miskina) and St.Cajetan (Tat-Tamal) participate in this march and both attract a sizeable crowd of followers, loyally dressed in the clubs colours – blue and red respectively. Due to the immense rivalry between the clubs the band marches take a different route and do not meet. Both marches are also obliged to start and end at the same time – start time is normally around 11am and the marathon marches continue until 3pm, usually in blazing sunlight and temperatures hovering around the 30c mark. The clubs also have a signed agreement not to let things get out of hand and this is religiously adhered to – not least because there are hefty financial penalties relating to any departure from acceptable behaviour.
If this is starting to sound somewhat intimidating rest assured it isn’t. The rivalry is mostly good-natured and the opposing fans mingle, embrace and drink (and then drink some more) together. Rowdy and mischievous it does get though – the bands just love stopping in front of the rival club’s premises and playing to their heart’s content while the followers indulge in some bawdy and not too Christian chanting. Some of the clubs’ fans also wear themed fancy costumes and face-paint which add to the colour and the general carnival mood. Just don’t come in your Sunday best…
It’s truly a mad feast of colour, sweaty good fun, beer aplenty and one which every Hamruniz will tell you is unique to the islands. Trust me, I’m one.
It’s truly a mad feast of colour, sweaty good fun, beer aplenty and one which every Hamruniz will tell you is unique to the islands. Trust me, I’m one.
This article was first published in the August 2014 issue of Il-Bizzilla - the Air Malta inflight magazine
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