Last year they broke a Malta Record with an 85-foot Catherine Wheel. This year, members of the St Bartholomew Fireworks Factory of Għargħur will be attempting to break another record using a set of 12 traditional Maltese petards.
Licensee Manuel Gauci told this newspaper that the record attempt involves letting off 12 petards – each one bigger than the last. “The first will have one ‘fetħa’ (a shower of small pyrotechnical charges called ‘beraq’) and a bigger charge at the end – what is known as a ‘bomba.’ The second will have two ‘fetħiet’ and one bomba and so on. The last is the biggest and the most ambitious.”
Mr Gauci explained that the twelfth petard takes up to 25 seconds to burn completely and is the hardest to keep off the ground.
“The charges, which release the layers of beraq (pictured above) push the whole thing further upwards but at some point the petard will start falling. The thing works if all the layers and the bomba at the end go off before the petard reaches the ground. It’s quite a challenge but it’s worked before, so we are quite hopeful,” Mr Gauci said.
Simon Aquilina was responsible for crafting the set. He explains that the process started soon after last year’s village feast. “First you draw up your plans and delegate the different tasks. Then you start filling up the beraq and closing them up in tiny parcels. We used up a total of 3,400 beraq in the 12 petards.”
He went on to explain how the beraq are layered into canisters that are then stacked up on top of each other, according to the size of the petard. In simple terms, the whole thing is packaged in paper, glued together and decorated. Different size fuses – all hand-made – are used.
The process is time-consuming and it is delicate work that has to be carried out in appropriate conditions. “We cannot mix the beraq during the summer months because that would be dangerous,” Mr Aquilina says, explaining that the team here prefers to manufacture the traditional pyrotechnic squibs rather than use ready-made ones that can be purchased from abroad.
This type of pyrotechnical feat is indigenous to Għargħur, Simon’s father Isaac points out. “It was first invented 80 years ago, by our ancestors. That was in 1936, when Għargħur church was consecrated. Back then it used to be a set of 10 petards, but it was increased to twelve in 1992 by Charles Muscat ‘iz-Zejzej.’ We did it again in 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2012 but this year our young people wanted to enter it officially for a record attempt.”
Mr Aquilina Sr explained that the set will be let off shortly after 7pm on Sunday, as the statue of St Bartholomew is being taken out of the church.
The volunteers gave us a tour of the fireworks factory, proudly showing off the fruit of their labours – all of which will be used to light up the sky over Għargħur during the weekend. One of the stores is full of coloured petards – decorated with the crests of their creator’s favourite football team, including Juventus, AC Milan and Barcelona.
In another store room, the massive ‘blalen,’ which are round canisters that will let off the most spectacular colour fireworks, are decorated with pictures of the grim reaper.
There are around 20 volunteers who work in this fireworks factory all year round and fireworks are their passion. “I have been involved with pyrotechnics for the last 20 years,” says Mr Gauci.
“This is our passion. We all try to find a couple of hours after work to come to the factory. This is where we spend all our weekends. It is hard work but when the village feast comes and you see your work light up the sky you forget about the hard work and have your motivation to start working for the coming year.”
Video/photos Jonathan Borg