We are in the height of summer, and festa season is in full swing. As you will be reading this article, your morning will likely be punctuated by some form of fireworks salute from a nearby village (or your own locality if you're lucky enough), and perhaps a band march if you live in a village that is celebrating their festa this week. In any case, I wish you a happy (belated) feast, just in case.

Whether you're a festa enthusiast or not, probably we can all agree how this socio-religious phenomenon plays an important part in identifying our national psyche.

I would compare our festi to the famous Palio of Siena, which is held twice a year, and for which the Medieval city goes absolutely bananas. You cannot imagine Siena without the pageantry, tradition, rivalry and passion that goes into this yearly three-minute horse race. Perhaps, on some level, the same is with us and our festi.

But this is not an article about the importance of village feasts. Not in a narrow sense at least. I wish to tackle a rather specific aspect, which is the engine that runs these weird and wonderful events (together with many others), and that is voluntary work.

In fact, our village feasts are organised, funded, and run by a small army of dedicated volunteers in each village, who sacrifice considerable parts of their lives to their passion. These people actively choose to dedicated time and resources (often sacrificing time with their families) to keep these age-old traditions alive, against all sorts of odds.

As I said, the same goes for many other organisations, not necessarily related to village feasts, that depend completely on voluntary work. From environmental protection, to disability, politics and animal welfare, voluntary organisations are the backbone of a great deal of work that keeps our communities and society at large working. A very significant volume of important work, that is done by dedicated, passionate people, for no real gain in return.

Yet, year on year, it is noted how all organisations, across the board are finding it harder to attract enough voluntary workers, to maintain their operations running.

It appears that young people especially, are finding it harder to find the time, to dedicate some hours a week, to something that doesn't necessarily give them a direct return. Obviously, we do have dedicated young people who opt to lend a helping hand, but the rate at which this happens is markedly dwindling. Perhaps the younger generation is finding it harder to understand the value of doing something for a greater good, and for the community.

I will never blame anyone for their choices, of course. Our young people's educational journeys are more demanding than ever. With more students opting to pursue their studies well into tertiary and post-graduate levels (which naturally is a great thing in itself), they naturally will have less time to dedicate to other things outside of books.

Same goes for young people who work. The crazy race of daily life leaves very little time to do things other than going to work, picking up that part-time job, taking the kids to three or four types of extracurricular activities, keeping up with the needs of the house and a hundred other things.

The thing that saddens me most, however, goes beyond voluntary work itself. I feel we are losing the value of having a hobby, something that takes our minds off things, takes us to a happy place and allows us to recharge our minds for the next day. Sadly, many are finding this outlet in gaming and other similar non-creative activities, which is not the same.

I urge parents of young kids, as well as our youths, to actively consider trying their hand at as many things as possible. They will certainly stumble across something that will light that indomitable fire in their hearts! It is a feeling you cannot describe, and if we lose it from our society, we will be poorer for sure.

Back to festi, as I have said, they depend on volunteers, without whom they would just stop happening. Perhaps it is time to understand how we can encourage more people to 'take up arms' in these beautiful traditions, which are so central to our national identity.

I wish the very best to all celebrating their saint!

Alexander Mangion is Deputy Mayor in Attard.