The village feasts season will soon come to an end. They are still a popular occasion for social gatherings although, it must be said, the more time passes the more the religious aspect continues to be lost while the more pagan element of our feasts raises its head. Feasts have unfortunately become yet another opportunity for heavy drinking, and this is not a good thing. Not to mention the extra disruption caused to the traffic flow and the inconvenience of the loud bangs coming from fireworks.

But what we want to highlight in this editorial is something else.

It is the way politicians use village feasts for their own personal gain.

It has been like this since time immemorial. Politicians move around from locality to locality – within their electoral district of course – as they seek to touch base with their constituents. In the past, in pre-social media times, they used to do it too, but they did not “impose” their presence so much.

Nowadays they post one photo after another on their social media pages – and tell others to do so on their behalf – simply because they believe that their presence in the streets where feasts are being celebrated is a way to garner support. Maybe they do, among the people who enjoy feasts; but maybe they don’t too, among people who dislike them with a passion.

The thing is, politicians do not really enjoy them. They are a necessary evil in their bid to raise their stature and hope that a photo taken with a constituent will later end up as a number one preference on the ballot sheet.

Ask any politician who has retired, and who no longer contests the election, to tell you what he or she thinks about feasts – and the great majority will reply that their “having to” attend feasts is one of the situations they do not miss now that their life in politics is over. And we do not blame them for this.

Given that many politicians, or at least the top crop, contest in two districts, the chances are that there is at least one feast taking place in a locality which forms part of their political border. There is also a possibility that two are taking place in the same weekend, and this would mean having to juggle their presence so as to be able to reach out as much as possible.

This takes a toll, but politicians know that their “absence” from the feast would be considered by many as showing a lack of respect, and it could cost them dearly. So much so that politicians plan any holiday abroad so as not to coincide with any feast they “should” visit and, if they really cannot make it or are unwell, they use the social media to “advise” their constituents why they are not attending. They know that any unjustified absence will mean loss of votes.

This is the Malta we live in.