Carnival in Malta is an important event on the religious calendar, and follows the traditional Catholic Carnival celebration, which literally translated means ‘Meat is allowed’. Fasting during this period is still practised relatively widely by the Maltese, with many avoiding meat and sweats and least on Wednesdays and Fridays. The five Carnival celebration days are normally held in February or early March when all out silliness takes over parts of Malta. This feast is shared by many with the main centre of attraction being the large and brightly coloured floats passing through the streets of Floriana and Valletta.

History of the Malta Carnival

The feast has been celebrated since the 15th century, though the advent of the St. John Knights in 1535 boosted its importance. Back then, Carnival celebrations were held mainly in Birgu, with pageants, games and display of skills by participating knights. Even in those days, Carnival stood for extravagance, where knights held large banquets and masquerades, oftentimes setting the scene for drunken brawls.

In the 19th century, the Malta carnival had survived through the British rule and has been handed down over the years in an unbroken tradition of almost six centuries. In the meantime, Maltese carnival has developed a wide range of events and games that became part of the carnival tradition.

Carnival celebrations  in Malta have come a long way and are still a deeply rooted feast practiced by the Maltese people to date.

How and When Carnival is celebrated in Malta today

The festivities normally includes prolific late-night parties, masked balls, grotesque mask and dress competitions, costumed revellers, marching bands and a colourful parade of large floats. The carnival festival is normally opened with a light-hearted sword dance (Parata Dance) in honour of Malta’s conquest over the Turks in 1565, true to an age-old tradition. What follows is a show of song and dance, as well as a parade of the Carnival floats.

Building Carnival floats has become a true competition with several groups from around the Maltese islands preparing, designing and constructing intricate and brightly coloured floats. Often, high power sound installations are added to these structures to ensure that the float isn’t only the most eye catching one of them all, but also makes their presence known through thumping beats, sometimes with a DJ spinning a set of turntables on the float itself.

The main Carnival celebration takes place in Malta’s capital, Valletta in the freedom square. Prizes are awarded for the best costumes, artistic dances, grotesque masks and floats. Although Valletta and Floriana set the main stage for Carnival celebrations, other localities in Malta and Gozo organise festivities of their own.

The most notable, or in some people’s eyes most notorious, celebration is the Nadur Carnival, which has grown in popularity in recent years. Held in the small village of Nadur, Gozo, this event isn’t organised by any Carnival committee and is a kind of wild celebration where mostly youths gathered, dressed up extravagantly and not particularly concerned with morals and standards, though all in good fun. Every year, the Gozo ferry has a tough time coping with the large demand of Maltese youths flocking to Nadur for what’s practically become one big street party.

Typical Malta Carnival Food

The common foods during this festivity include the Maltese carnival cake Pinjolata, a white dome-shaped cake, prepared with almonds, eggs, special seeds, cake etc and coated with beaten chocolate and meringue, decorated using cherries. Perlini are common sweets also made specifically for the carnival festivity. They are pure almonds coated in sugar of a wide range of colours.

Carnival in Malta is an important event on the religious calendar, and follows the traditional Catholic Carnival celebration, which literally translated means ‘Meat is allowed’. Fasting during this period is still practised relatively widely by the Maltese, with many avoiding meat and sweats and least on Wednesdays and Fridays. The five Carnival celebration days are normally held in February or early March when all out silliness takes over parts of Malta. This feast is shared by many with the main centre of attraction being the large and brightly coloured floats passing through the streets of Floriana and Valletta.

History of the Malta Carnival

The feast has been celebrated since the 15th century, though the advent of the St. John Knights in 1535 boosted its importance. Back then, Carnival celebrations were held mainly in Birgu, with pageants, games and display of skills by participating knights. Even in those days, Carnival stood for extravagance, where knights held large banquets and masquerades, oftentimes setting the scene for drunken brawls. Various Grand Masters attempted to sober up festivities to ensure its core Christian values were not tainted by festivities going out of hand.

In the 19th century, the Malta carnival had survived through the British rule and has been handed down over the years in an unbroken tradition of almost six centuries. In the meantime, Maltese carnival has developed a wide range of events and games that became part of the carnival tradition.

Carnival celebrations  in Malta have come a long way and are still a deeply rooted feast practiced by the Maltese people to date.

How and When Carnival is celebrated in Malta today

The festivity normally includes prolific late-night parties, masked balls, grotesque mask and dress competitions, costumed revellers, marching bands and a colourful parade of large floats. The carnival festival is normally opened with a light-hearted sword dance (Parata Dance) in honour of Malta’s conquest over the Turks in 1565, true to an age-old tradition. What follows is a show of song and dance, as well as a parade of the Carnival floats.

Building Carnival floats has become a true competition with several groups from around the Maltese islands preparing, designing and constructing intricate and brightly coloured floats. Often, high power sound installations are added to these structures to ensure that the float isn’t only the most eye catching one of them all, but also makes their presence known through thumping beats, sometimes with a DJ spinning a set of turntables on the float itself.

The main Carnival celebration takes place in Malta’s capital, Valletta in the freedom square. Prizes are awarded for the best costumes, artistic dances, grotesque masks and floats. Although Valletta and Floriana set the main stage for Carnival celebrations, other localities in Malta and Gozo organise festivities of their own.

The most notable, or in some people’s eyes most notorious, celebration is the Nadur Carnival, which has grown in popularity in recent years. Held in the small village of Nadur, Gozo, this event isn’t organised by any Carnival committee and is a kind of wild celebration where mostly youths gathered, dressed up extravagantly and not particularly concerned with morals and standards, though all in good fun. Every year, the Gozo ferry has a tough time coping with the large demand of Maltese youths flocking to Nadur for what’s practically become one big street party.

Typical Malta Carnival Food

The common foods during this festivity include the Maltese carnival cake Pinjolata, a white dome-shaped cake, prepared with almonds, eggs, special seeds, cake etc and coated with beaten chocolate and meringue, decorated using cherries. Perlini are common sweets also made specifically for the carnival festivity. They are pure almonds coated in sugar of a wide range of colours.

A typical Malta bus in its present day livery

Maltese buses are well known abroad, loved by tourists for the antique types of single decker buses driving around the islands. With the majority of the fleet classified as antique, tourists often marvel at the fact that these vehicles are still in operating condition, whereas the Maltese bemoan their very existence. Being the only mode of public transport on the islands currently, with a network of bus routes reaching most remote villages, many Maltese depend on the bus service on a daily basis.

Malta buses are really something truly unique. Mainly of British manufacture, with marques such as Bedford, AEC, Leyland and Ford, a large number of these buses date back from the 1970s and 1960s, with a few examples from the 1950s.

Love them or hate them, the brightly-coloured Maltese bus has a long history, though a not so very bright future with upcoming public transport reforms.

Malta Public Transport

Buses are the main mode of transport in Malta, and at present a little over 500 buses are in operation. Besides running on scheduled routes, the buses also offer direct and night services, private trips and school transport. Public transport is cheap, relatively efficient though not very popular among the local population, mainly due to outdated route planning (resulting in unncessarily long trips requiring multiple routes to get from one locality to another), outdated and slow buses and sometimes unreliable service (particularly towards the last trips of a day, in more remote areas).

Most tourists, however, consider riding one of these old buses as a true experience and the Malta bus is probably one of the most popularly photographed objects on the Maltese islands.

While Malta’s Public transport buses are yellow in color with an orange horizontal stripe, Gozo buses are grey colored with a red horizontal stripe. The vast majority of the buses start and end their trips at the main terminus in Valletta with a few operating on circular routes. On Gozo, its capital Victoria serves as the main bus terminus of the island.  In various Malta villages and towns, the bus terminus is normally found near or on the main square.

The buses reach every corner of Malta with an average bus trip length being 20 to 30 minutes. The longest trip takes approximately 50 minutes.

History of Malta Buses

Before buses were even visible on Malta roads, the main mode of transport was by Rail (with a single line stretching from Valletta to Rabat and Mdina on the Eastern side of Malta), cabs, and horse-driven lorries. Primitive buses began operating in 1905 and this had a negative effect on the Malta Railway as buses became more popular. In the early 1920s, bus manufacturing took center stage on the Malta Island. In the late 1920s, buses operated on public transport roads and there was great competition between operators.

In 1930 the fleet of buses in Malta counted 385 licensed route buses, several of these owned by the bus drivers themselves. With a high number of operating buses, competition was so fierce that buses were often overloaded and speeding became a regular occurrence, with drivers trying to complete more trips. However, in 1931, the Traffic Control Board was formed bringing in great discipline and regulation in the bus industry. New routes were introduced, with a formalised trip schedule, making the service increasingly efficient and organised.

With more regular and secure income, bus owners now began upgrading their buses to make them more attractive to the public. Since then, customization and decoration of Malta buses became a tradition. Buses were well maintained, kept clean and painted in various colours, depending on their designated route(s).

The 1970 reforms in Malta led to the centralization of bus operations with the formation of the Public Transport Association. The association had the mandate of day-to-day bus operation management.

In 2003, the government launched a scheme in which around 100 buses were scrapped and replaced by modern imported line buses from China. The government lowered the rates for bus tour services and traditional Malta buses were mainly in use. In December 2008, a major proposed streamlining of the ownership and operation of Malta buses was declared and a reform is expected in 2011, in which all of the antique buses will be replaced.

The future: Arriva comes to Malta

Arriva, the leading European train and bus operator is set to take over the Maltese bus service in 2011, after it was the preferred bidder to operate bus services in Gozo and Malta in a government tender. The future plans of Arriva involve replacement of the majority of Malta’s outdated bus fleet. Arriva’s plans to introduce both new and refurbished Euro V rated buses, to improve the comfort of passengers and reduce environmental hazards brought forth by the transport industry.

Although bein retired from service, a  number of the older models will be preserved by local organisations such as Heritage Malta, for display in a transport museum.

If you want to ride on one of the antique Maltese buses in regular service, better catch one of them while you can! They’re expected to be taken out of service in July 2011.

For more information on current bus maps, routes and time tables and other Malta bus related info visit http://www.maltabybus.com/.

Nowhere is the Maltese idiom more beautifully expressed than in the wonder walls of its farmhouses. Dream houses are usually just that: far and away, but if you wander down the winding village roads which usually follow the original field paths, and if you squint and look closely behind the trees and outcrops, you will find Maltese farmhouses which, despite being the most discreet and humble of buildings, are the closest you can get to the castles in the fertile air of your imagination.

The Maltese farmhouse has no close parallels to any of our European neighbours. Rather, it is closer to the architecture of North Africa. Ample proof is the fact that the different units of a farmhouse have Semitic names. Ghorfa, for instance, which is the first floor room that originally served as a human dwelling and which is set apart from the stables and storage rooms on ground level, has its closest relative in Tunisia. There, an Ghorfa is used to define a structure which is built using a mixture of cut stone and rubble.

Despite Arabic influences, Maltese farmhouses are the primary exemplar of a vernacular architecture; what Bernard Rudofsky would have called, ‘architecture without architects: Farmhouses are a unique, distinctive idiom that is expressed without pretensions and with deep respect for time, space, nature and the seasons, to which the layout adapts.

Farmhouses were built by people who lived close to nature and whose livelihood depended on careful assessment of the weather and strict planning for survival. Thus, what they needed were not fancy ornate dwellings but sturdy houses which are, literally, firmly rooted to the earth they stand on. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the actual planning of farmhouses which, as Richard England writes in his book ‘Uncaged Reflections’(1978), show ’successful logical answers of common sense and simplicity… sheer straightforward thinking’.

From the outside, Maltese farmhouses blend in so well with their surroundings that instead of leaving a deep footprint they appear as though they have been there since the opening sentence of the Genesis. Facades are imposing, stocky and unadorned. As Carol J. Jaccarini writes in his study, lr-Razzett: The Maltese Farmhouse (C.J. Jaccarini, 1998), open stone balconies with ornate corbels; observation boxes; cornices, sculptural keystones and fanlights above the doorways are all later additions, yet they make a beautiful contrast with the otherwise blank canvas of the facade. Most of the walls are tad-doblu, that is, double layered and filled with soil and stone chips. North facing walls are kept windowless. When they do have windows, it is only tiny apertures to prevent strong winds and rain from entering inside. Honey-coloured when first built, these limestone walls, on exposure, harden and weather, forming a protective crust which slows down erosion. Where walls are exposed to rain and sea-spray, qawwi (upper coralline limestone) or zonqot (lower coralline limestone) is used instead of franka.

To complete the austerity of the buildings, roofs are flat to serve for rain catchment and to put rows of melons and pumpkins so they could be ripened by the sun. Pigeon roosts made of stone are also common. Less so are stone cheese rooms with vertical wall slits to help cross-ventilation. Thus, cheeses can dry faster.

Inside a Maltese farmhouse, rooms are constructed in cubical forms. Their layout is functional; planned to provide shelter for the livestock. In fact, the ground floor was mostly used for animals, which were invaluable for meat, dairy products, transport and for sheer physical power in the fields. Livestock was housed and fed in the maqjel, the main animal room which was usually divided in a number of arched stables. Given that animals were stall-fed rather than allowed to graze, they were tied to hand carved stone tie-rings and fed through mangers or communal troughs, built along the walls. Animal rooms also have a number of ventilator openings, rather than windows, and one slit hole, called an amberzina, through which a farmer could insert a gun and shoot any intruders.

The maqjel was roofed using a variety of methods, each bypassing the problem that limestone, being a soft stone, is unable to support huge loads and stresses. The most common roofing system involved the use of arches or transverse beams and slabs. A less common method was to insert a longitudinal beam and have slabs resting on kilep, or side corbels. Extra long slabs, known as xorok tal-qasba, could also be rested on side corbels without using beams or on side corbels on either side of a central, longitudinal arch. Arches were either round, segmental, three-centred or rampant, where one abutment is higher than the other.

Outside the maqjel, a courtyard was built to provide shelter from the wind and make the most of the cool sea breezes. The courtyard also served as a ventilation link between the front and the back of the farmhouse. From the yard, a stone staircase leads to an arcaded veranda, called the loggia. This gives way to the ghorfa, which was usually of Spartan design, with sparse furnishing and deep wall recesses used as storage and larders. The floor of the ghorfa was either made out of a thin layer of beaten earth or paved with flagstones. These were then sealed with multiple coats of linseed oil, boiled with slices of prickly-pear leaf, which made the floor easy to keep clean. In the last decades of the 19th century, cement-based, square glazed tiles started being used. These were known as madum tad-disinn because of their intricate floral and geometric designs. With urbanisation, farmhouses no longer rule the countryside, and their use for farming is obsolete. Most are being converted into homes where the courtyard il sparkles with scarlet bougainvillea and the water in the pool laps while the garden blooms and blushes. It is only this careful conservation that retains the timeless simplicity and charm of a Maltese farmhouse.

No mention of Maltese food is complete without a reference to the local Maltese bread, and more specifically the popular loaf called tal-Malti (literally, “of the Maltese”). Very crusty on the outside, yet soft on the inside, many visitors and the Maltese alike find the combination of taste and texture of fresh Maltese bread irresistible.

Indeed, Maltese bread tastes like no other bread in the world. However, to enjoy it at its best, the hobza tal-Malti must be eaten fresh, on the same day it was baked. You can find typical Maltese bread at most village groceries and supermarkets. However, a visit to a bakery is well worth your while, if only to witness and appreciate the rustic authenticity of the way it is produced – not to mention savouring the enticing aroma of the finished product, fresh out of the oven!

A perfect snack is hobz biz-zejt, served in practically every bar or kiosk and still a favourite packed lunch for many. Each bar and household has a different version of the ingredients which make up this popular snack, but they all make a substantial alternative to a quick lunchtime sandwich. The hobz biz-zejt is a large thick round of Maltese bread dipped in olive oil rubbed with ripe tomatoes and filled with a mix of tuna, onion, garlic, tomatoes and capers. A version made with the unleavened variety of Maltese bread, the ring-shaped Jtira; is just as delicious. In restaurants, smaller portions known as bruschetta are served as appetisers.

First-time visitors to the Maltese Islands are usually pleasantly surprised to realise that a loaf of bread can prove to be such a treat in itself. Some visitors are so taken by this genuine delicacy that they make sure they grab a loaf before boarding their planes, thus taking back home a simple, but incredible slice of Maltese life!

Until a short time ago our justifiably famous Valletta Grand Harbour, so often the scene of the madness of war and the courage of men, was almost crowded with hundreds of boats and water taxis, which plied the harbour creeks on both sides of Valletta. These were largely used to ferry passengers, especially sailors, from their ships to land, and vice versa. These colourful Maltese boats are referred to as Dghajsa or Luzzu and are also used for fishing, these days often fitted with an inboard engine.

Let us not forget that it was mainly from Malta’s shores that the invasion was launched that brought Italy to its knees in World War II. Indeed, the Second World War, unlike the First, was largely fought out in the Mediterranean basin. The battle for the control of the Mediterranean lasted for almost three years – from Italy’s entry into the war in June 1940 to the final surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943. Never has our Grand Harbour been so busy as in those days of war. Malta had achieved an importance in world affairs, as it had done in 1565, quite out of proportion to its size. And the Grand Harbour was littered with Maltese luzzu boats in those days of war.

But the heyday of the dghajsa is well and truly over and the number of these boats in Grand Harbour has dwindled considerably. This is due to several factors but certainly the death blow came with the rundown programme of the British Forces in Malta in the late fifties and the diminishing size of the British Mediterranan Fleet.

But the colourful dghajsa has an equally colourful companion which is of considerably bigger dimensions: the luzzu. Like the Maltese cross this is one of the symbols of Malta and is featured on the reverse of the older series of Maltese lira coins. The Mediterranean sea, which is ever present has, throughout the ages, made men excellent mariners and this ubiquitous sea has always attracted men to fish.

Like the dghajsa, the luzzu is also a uniquely Maltese boat. Painted in the traditional colours of red, blue and yellow, it is a sturdy and reliable sea craft and can be put to sea in almost every kind of weather. Primarily, the luzzu is a fishing boat but it has other uses such as ferrying locals and tourists across the Grand Harbour.

Many Luzzus have the eye of Osiris painted or carved on the bow, a symbol said to have been brought to Malta by the Phoenicians. This seems to suggest that craft of this type must have been common in the harbour since the time of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians.

It is hard to imagine a more tranquil and soul-satisfying sight than that of a dead-calm sea on a clear summer’s day when the Mediterranean is magnificent and regally serene, blue and seemingly infinite. The sight of a luzzu out at sea on such a day is truly beautiful.

Every fishing village in Malta and Gozo has its own luzzijiet. This Maltese fishing boat which is said to be of Sicilian origin, resplendent in glowing, vibrant colours, sits easily on the limpid waters of the enclosed harbours of the fishing villages. See a host of them in Marsaxlokk as they bring in their catch. You can also see a similar scene in Marsascala, Birzebbuga and Wied-iz-Zurrieq. Many fishermen are now constrained to go and fish beyond the local shores to compete with foreign fishermen. The luzzu lies there motionless on its mooring rope, the boat’s reflection on the mirror-like surface is a perfect replica of itself.

In autumn and winter when often, with autumn and winter can be devastating to any craft left at sea. Yet, every year a number of over-optimistic owners leave their boats in the water too long after the calm summer months and a sudden, violent storm, of the familiar autumnal kind that suddenly appear in the space of an hour, lays waste the vessels at its mercy, leaving behind a sad spectacle of half-sunk, capsized and wrecked boats.

The wise fisherman starts thinking about wintering his precious boat early and arranging for its annual maintenance routine. Cracks that are found between the planks are filled in and the repaired area then repainted. The bottom of the hull is sanded down to remove the barnacles and other vegetation that clings to it, causing the boat to lose speed and an anti-fouling paint is applied. Within a couple of weeks the boat is ready to go back into the water.

Every five years most fishermen give their boats a more thorough check-up. The old paint is completely stripped off to allow the fisherman a closer inspection of his craft, and often he will find that the odd plank here and there needs replacing and the joints between the planks need opening and resealing. Every single joint – and they run into hundreds throughout the boat – is patiently checked and those in need of attention filled.

For the smaller ones, putty is used bitt for the major joints the gaps are stuffed with a thick gauze-like material called xoqqa and then liquid tar is used. This is left to dry and becomes solid after a few days, after which putty is applied and sanded and eventually the luzzu is repainted and restored to its original colourful splendor.

The luzzu is more or less a flat-bottomed boat. The choice of wood usually depends on the whim of the owner. The strakes, or continuous line of planking from stem to stern, are usually made of white deal while the inner works or the floor and side frames are made of ash and red deal. The main characteristics of this Maltese boat are the rather short stern, the moustaches, those triangular shaped spaces painted at the bows and stern which are found on all Maltese fishing boats, as well as the oculus, the eye of Osiris.

There was a time when the colour of the moustaches or mustacci on a luzzu indicated the fishing village where it was based. It is on the mustacci that the eye of Horus or oculi, sculpted in low relief or simply painted on, can be found. Floral motifs are also painted on by way of decoration and a name is always included with the decorations.

But these hardy men also hang olive branches which are blessed on Palm Sunday. For the evil eye lurking around every inlet is the same that drowns. The Phoenician oculus, the Christian olive branch. Every little helps. Like all seafarers all around the world, the Maltese fisherman is a very superstitious creature and the eye of Osiris is believed to be a protection from the evil eye, which many Maltese of the older generation but especially fishermen, still believe in.

Most luzzijiet are built in wood to a design that dates back hundreds of years, a fact proven by paintings dating from the 17th century which depict boats very similar in design and style to the modern luzzu. Like everything else the luzzu had its various stages of development. The original luzzijiet are said to have been rather small but they became larger in time. At first they depended on oars, then sails and finally on a diesel engine. Each fisherman usually has his own colours, which previously belonged to his father and grandfather before him. These are very rarely changed, mostly out of superstition.

The gregale, or tempestuous northeast wind, which shipwrecked Saint Paul and Saint Luke on their way to Rome, still harasses these islands in winter. Few of these boats are lost in navigational hazards nowadays. But the sea eats them remorselessly. For the Mediterranean Sea is avaricious with its high salinity and humidity and its warm winters indulgent to the wood worm.

The sails are almost gone now from the sea except for those of yachtsmen. The luzzu chugs in and out under its heavy diesel engines, no longer confined to the ancient sailing season of May to September. But even without its sails, it remains typical of these islands.

After the maintenance is completed, the boat returns to the water and to work. Although this type of boat does not put out to sea in bad weather, on good days the fishermen will set off for their favourite fishing ground. When they return, hopefully bearing many kilogrammes of delicious Mediterranean fish with them, their boats again grace the little harbours of the fishing villages. And the scene is once again the wonderful, colourful and enchanting sight that makes Maltese fishing harbours so unique and unforgettable.

Band clubs in Malta are part and parcel of the social and cultural history of the Maltese islands and have, along the years, established themselves as an institution in the core of every town and village, aimed at spreading Maltese culture and teaching of music. Many musicians who have gone on to make a name for themselves, locally or abroad, owe their success, in part, to the encouragement and teaching of the local band club.

The idea of forming philharmonic societies or band clubs was already brewing in the minds of a few dilettantes back in the second part of the 19th century. Small bands were formed by individuals – most of whom could not afford to buy a musical instrument of their own. Businessmen dug deep into their pockets to help those individuals who possessed the talent to learn how to play an instrument. Thus the first band clubs were formed and the primary aim was that the musicians would perform in their village feast.

The number of clubs flourished and a sense of professionalism prevailed. After turbulent and then conciliatory circumstances, the Band Clubs Association was formed. This year the Association is celebrating its 60th anniversary, endorsing a membership of 84 band clubs across the island. According to the latest survey by the local National Statistics Office, the total number of bandsmen/women (bandisti) amount to over 4000, both residents and trainees, more than a quarter of whom are women.

Every town and village in Malta and Gozo has its own band club, some even have two, as there are certain villages which celebrate two feasts – one dedicated to the patron saint and the other celebrating the so called ‘secondary’ feast of another saint. In the past, unfortunately, an intense rivalry developed when a village had more than one club and this rivalry at times became violent as each struggled to better the other when it came to celebration of their saint. Nowadays, however, this competitiveness is channeled in a more positive way, with rival band clubs leaving no stone unturned as they strive to decorate the façade of the club’s premises in the most colourful and vivid way, launch new musical numbers, and create the most merry-making atmosphere possible. Marching in rows of six, wearing uniforms and proudly showing off the badge of their club, a band is normally composed of between 60 and 70 bands- men/women playing a variety of instruments.

The premises of most of the clubs are attractions in themselves, places to show off musical memorabilia as well as souvenirs of major achievements over the years. They offer a meeting place for members and a teaching place where young musicians are encouraged to join their colleagues in the next village festa festivities. Musical programmes along the main streets of the village herald a week of festivities and celebrations and, in most instances, end with the popular “mar ta’ filghodu” – the morning march. Feasts are practically held every Sunday between June and September and in many cases more than one is celebrated during the weekends.

If you happen to be flying in, go to one of the village feats, mingle with the locals and enjoy the merrymaking provided by the band marches. Don’t forget to taste the traditional Maltese nougat from one of the many stalls!

During Good Friday Processions, Malta’s streets are transformed into open-air theatres that celebrate the cycle of suffering, death and resurrection.

Every year on Good Friday, Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ. His resurrection three days later is the Church’s greatest feast and, for believers, the defining moment of their faith. For the Maltese, no other event captures the imagination quite as vividly as this annual ritualised cycle of suffering, death, and resurrection.

Nothing can prepare the visitor for the sheer volume of images and rituals crammed into these few spring days. Families go on a special round of seven churches; enthusiasts exhibit sets of miniaturef statues in their homes; and confectioners make special ‘fasting’ sweets. The biggest dos of all are undoubtedly the Good Friday processions which see a growing number of towns and villages transformed into open-air theatres. Space becomes time as hundreds of static actors in period costume narrate the storyline of Jesus’s sacrifice by filing past crowds of spectators to the beat of funerary marches. These tableaux vivants take over our everyday streetscapes. The shops and facades we know so well are transformed into a backdrop for Biblical characters and Roman legions, to dramatic counterpoint.

During Holy Week and especially on Good Friday, a number of sensations converge on the body of the believer. Take the juxtaposition of fast and feast, an element common to many world religions. Or the change in the acoustic landscape, from the church bells that usually pattern our daily lives to the somewhat-macabre sound of the tuqtojta (rattle) that replaces them on Good Friday as a sign of mourning. These elements change, albeit temporarily, the way we experience our bodies -again an important aspect of what religion is all about.

As is the case in any ritual, the meanings of this collective drama seep out of the purely religious. The element of masculine performance is very evident, as is the broader theme of the aesthetics of suffering which has bewitched countless painters and film-makers. All of which makes us wonder how all this blood and agony congealed into such a coherent routine.

For the casual onlooker, especially one (dis-)armed with the commonly-peddled cliché of Mediterranean timelessness, it is easy to think of these practices as ’survivals’ or collective folk traditions that take us back into the ‘mists of time’. In fact, these traditions contain a lot of history, entrepreneurship, and invention.

Good Friday Processions have a fascinating and very definite history. Their roots are complex and draw upon various medieval Christian traditions. As Joseph Cassar Pullicino notes in his Studies in Maltese Folklore, the idea reached Malta through Spanish and Sicilian influences. By the end of the sixteenth century, the lay confraternity of St.Joseph attached to the Franciscan friary in Rabat was the first to organise such a procession, followed by its counterpart attached to the Valletta friary in 1645. The tradition of dressing up statues in the manner of southern religious baroque originated in the early eighteenth century when merchants and sea-captains from Vittoriosa, impressed by what they had seen in Spain, commissioned a set of statues for the parish church of their home town. The chained and masked penitents, which so spooked us when we were young, have an even more colourful history which takes us back to eighteenth-century Vittoriosa, where baptised slaves and forzati, persons condemned for various reasons to wear chains, took part in the procession.

Rather like Valletta’s Grand Harbour fortifications, which may look seamless but in fact represent hundreds of years of intermittent planning, construction, and demolition, the processions and rituals we witness today are the result of centuries of change. Periods of relative prosperity – and therefore sponsorship and benefaction – such as the eighteenth century and the last decades of the twentieth, generally brought about feverish entrepreneurship and creativity.

This process is an ongoing one. The circles of dilettanti (enthusiasts) that are the lifeblood of today’s rituals do not just accept what is traditional. They circulate from village to village, comparing notes on ideas and technique. It is not unknown for them to take their research to other countries, especially Italy and Spain. The decennial passion play held in Oberammergau in Austria has lent its fair share of inspiration, as have the sword-and-sandal Hollywood epics that serveas models for period costumes. And, in the absence of sea-captains commuting between Vittoriosa and Barcelona, a couple of mouse clicks can work miracles.

Being thus embedded in Maltese history, Holy Week rituals have not failed to attract flak from a number of directions. Maltese social reformers like Manwel Dimech have tended to see them as short-sighted diversions from bread-and-butter issues. The Church on its part seeks to limit their scope in order to encourage people to concentrate on what it sees as the real issue: a collected reflection on the sufferings of Christ. At this point the boundary between urban legend and fact gets murky, but common knowledge has it that some procession organisers, in an effort to avoid rivalry, individually weigh every chain dragged by penitents.

It is this heady mix of suffering, aesthetics, history, and politics, which renders Holy Week in Malta such a wonderful complement to the labours of the birth of spring.