First Holy Communion and Confirmation celebrations can take place next week after the relaxation of Covid-19 measures, although certain restrictions are still in place.
The Curia has published a set of guidelines, announcing that such measures will enter into force from 27 June and, whilst candidates, parents and priests do not have to wear visors or masks, social distancing must be exercised.
There was uncertainty for a time and there was also talk about this year’s celebrations being postponed to 2021. With this in mind, The Malta Independent spoke to a number of retail shops which sell or hire Holy Communion dresses and suits to understand what their situation is with regard to clients, stocks and the newly announced dates for the religious ceremonies.
Most parents purchased Holy Communion dresses just before shops had to shut down
EVES, a retail outlet which specialises in wedding dresses, elegant evening wear and Holy Communion dresses, had sold most of their Holy Communion dresses before shutting down.
“Most parents bought the dresses back in January and February, just before we had to shut down,” a spokesperson from the shop said. “Currently, we are working on alterations, since children at that age are in between sizes and can grow in a couple of months.”
Another retail shop which provides dresses, suits and all accessories for Holy Communion is Natasha’s His & Hers. “We are very busy now, as there are Holy Communion ceremonies taking place throughout summer, and we had re-stocked before COVID-19, so we had everything prepared and in stock for parents to find all accessories and clothing related for their child’s Holy Communion day,” explained the owner of Natasha’s, Etienne Mifsud.
He said most parents bought the dresses and suits before COVID-19, but he was concerned that the Holy Communion’s and Confirmations ceremonies were going to be postponed to 2021. “That would have been an issue because the children would have definitely grown out of their outfits.”
Overall, he felt well prepared for the situation and was glad to see clients happy that the ceremonies are now happening."
Parents had to pick up the dress and monitor for any necessary alterations
“When parents came to pick up the dresses, we informed them to monitor to see if their daughter grew or if the dress needs more length, and if so, we would provide them with the necessary alterations,” Alamango Bridal manager Joyce Sciriha said.
Alamango Malta has been importing bridal wear, textiles and Holy Communion dresses for the past 45 years.
She explained that the company followed all measures whilst still seeing to its clients’ needs.
Sciriha also said that most dresses were bought prior to the shop closing, and the dresses arrived just when the measure was announced to close all non-essential shops.
At the time, there was no assurance of when Holy Communions and other ceremonies would be taking place, so after checking all the orders, the managers called the clients to pick up the dresses, but not to try on the dress at the shop.
“We had a very large number of orders this year, and we informed every single parent that their dresses had arrived. Of course, at the time, children could not try on the dresses at the shop, so we informed them to pick up the dresses and to that they should speak to us if they needed any alterations.”
Alamango said they, while it would not have been easy, it had a place in plan for the eventuality that this year’s Holy Communion ceremonies were postponed to 2021.
One shop which wished to not be named said that, despite the headache and hassle of the past few weeks, they made sure to they keep their clients happy. “It is a very particular situation we are in, and no one is to blame, but we managed, despite all the headaches.”
The shop said that whilst there was a lot of uncertainty as to whether ceremonies were going to happen this year, parents and shops could have been given more time to prepare.
“Once the Curia announced the dates of the Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremony, everything felt very rushed.”