Slight increase in parish feasts donations

The average expenditure to organise a parish feast last year amounted to €12,155 while the average income from parish feasts reached €10,456 according to statistics released by the National Statistics Office.

The total expenditure for the 122 parish feasts which were celebrated last year in Malta and Gozo amounted to €1.5 million while together they received almost €1.3 million, at par with the previous year.

The main share of income was made through donations, which amounted to an average of €6,372 per parish feast, marking a slight increase of 2010's €6,236

31% of the expenditure was incurred on external activities and 16% on administrative aspects. The external activities included band players and fireworks, and amounted to an average €3,706.

Remuneration of participants made only 4% of the total expenditure, indicating the high proportion of voluntary participation in such events. The average remuneration per feast amounted to €523.

During 2011, the number of female participants involved in the organisation of parish feasts amounted to 911 - an increase of eight persons from the previous year - while male participants amounted to 2,959, marking an increase of 30 over 2010.

8,173 took part in the processions.

The largest share of the feasts were celebrated in the Northern Harbour district, followed closely by the Southern Harbour district, Gozo and Comino.

The majority of parish feasts were celebrated both internally and externally.

Local choirs performed in 53% of parish feasts, while external choirs were hired for just over a quarter of the events. A minority of 1% availed themselves of an external choir for free.

An orchestra was hired for the majority of parish feast celebrations, with only 5% using an orchestra belonging to the parish.

In 2011, 455 band performances were given at feasts organised around Malta and Gozo. Of these 130 were given by local band clubs and the rest by visiting band clubs from other localities.