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At Maltese festival, climbing the greasy
pole is part of the fun
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 [August 28, 2017]
ST JULIAN'S, Malta (Reuters) - For
more than a century, locals in the small Maltese town of St Julian's
have celebrated their patron saint by running up a steeply angled log,
smeared with lard, protruding over the sea.
The goal is to grab increasingly difficult-to-reach flags.
The unconventional form of worship is the centerpiece of the Feast of
St. Julian, which takes place in late August, and dates back to the
1800s.
Men, women and children take part in the contest, running up a
30-foot-long pole, known as the gostra, suspended over the town's
harbor. Whether they win or lose however, the competitors all ultimately
end up in the water.
"While I stand there right before I go up, I have a bad feeling in my
gut that something might go wrong -- which is very common -- but the
adrenaline rush overcomes that bad feeling, which pushes me to go," said
competitor Ivan Bartoli, 21.
The choice facing competitors is clear -- when traction fails them, do
they dive forward for glory, or try to make a soft landing? At events in
the run up to Sunday's festival tactics ranging from dives to clinging
to the pole have been seen.
Though the festival's official date is Aug 26, celebrations including
several pole-climbing competitions have been taking place in the week
running up to the event's climax.
[to top of second column] |
Competitor Carden Mizzi grabs a flag as he falls off the "gostra", a
wooden pole covered in lard, during the main competition, part of
the celebrations on the religious feast day of St Julian, patron of
the town of St Julian's, Malta, August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin
Zammit Lupi
The prizes on offer for those who manage to grab one of the flags
are nominal. Carden Mizzi, 29, who has been taking part in the
competition for 10 years, said that victory was rewarded with
"trophies or just a bruise".
"It is hard, depending on your run" Mizzi added, "If you’re afraid
from the first few steps, you’d better jump off."
(Reporting by Darrin Zammit Lupi; Writing by Mark Hanrahan in London
Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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