STIEFNU DEBATTISTA

Beqqu u Stiefnu Carnival Company

We will not be partaking in any installations this year as we are putting all our attention on Carnival 2022. We had already started working on some ideas for it, but we had to stop because of the pandemic which took a hit on our progress, even with regards to sponsors.

Volunteers were already a problem before the pandemic honestly, but obviously the pandemic instilled more fear; even in us due to the increased responsibilities we had to take care of. Before the pandemic, we used to be ten to fifteen people at the workshop at a time. Now we are only around three people there, working a good distance away from each other, so we have fewer hands-on deck and progress is slow.

Things are not looking so bright for summer, so we have not made any plans for Carnival then and we are staying focused on going all out for Carnival 2022.

Carnival is ideal to take place each year because it is a time when people come together and take a break from all the news and politics we are bombarded with on a daily basis, just like Christmas break. This year we did not have any breaks apart from Christmas since the attention has been on the pandemic and politics.

I think the lack of Carnival this year will be felt so deeply that next year will be huge, especially considering the additional time we have been given to prepare for it now. This pandemic also helped us in a way as we had time to organize better, do some maintenance around the workshop and put more emphasis on health and safety.

It will be hard watching the videos of previous Carnivals they plan to broadcast this year, but this will definitely keep the Carnival spirit alive as well. We are a country that loves celebrating Carnival, so I have high hopes for next year.

My wish is that people do not gather in farmhouses as usual which would destroy our efforts to keep the virus controlled, and risk losing another Carnival.

We were surprised to have people asking what we will be doing this year, even if it was a small celebration, but obviously there is nothing we can do. From our end, we are taking our celebrations to a simple dinner among the few people that are still going to the workshop.