Home > Christmas Channel > Dreaming of a Maltese Christmas
| Dreaming of a Maltese Christmas: |
Frank L Scicluna -
Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
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You are not likely to have a white Christmas in Malta. Weather conditions
resemble those of Betlehem, the birthplace of Christ. The temperature during
Yuletide fluctuates from a maximum of 19 degrees Celsius to a minimum of
9C.
The Christmas festival, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, is observed
around the Christian world on the 25 December - the date believed to have
been fixed by St Hyppolytus in the 3rd century.
Christmas is a feast of peace and goodwill to all humans. Christmas is
Christmas everywhere, but there are certain characteristics that make Maltese
Christmas different from that of many other countries.
The streets of towns and villages are decorated and lit with multicolored
lights (festuni). Shop windows display the usual Christmas decorations
and a large variety of toys and presents to lure Christmas shoppers who
jam the streets. Christmas trees (is-sigra tal-Milied) and the figure of
Father Christmas (Santa Claus) are seen all over the place. The main feature,
which is a typically Maltese tradition, is the number of cribs (presepji)
that can be seen in public places and in private homes.
The first Maltese crib we know of is that found at the Benedictine Nuns
in Mdina and bears on its framework the year 1826. Another crib of the
same period is found in Vittoriosa but this has been over restored and there
is almost nothing left of the original structure. The main characters in
the crib are naturally Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus together with the
cow, the donkey and the sheep; and the three Kings who came to visit the
new born baby bearing gifts of myrrh, frankincense and gold.
Traditionally, the crib figurines (pasturi) were made of clay. Apart
from the principal figures they include shepherds minding their flock,
street singers, the shepherd's pipe and drum players, a farmer feeding the
animals, woman carrying a flour sack, the sleeping man and the man sprawling
on his stomach and perched on top of the grotto looking down at Baby Jesus.
These fragile penny clay figurines were easily acquired few years ago.
Nowadays modern plastic figurines are more commonly found in the Maltese
family crib.
The tradition of building cribs in churches and homes began in the 13th
century by the Franciscan friars. The actual crib where Christ was born
was brought from Betlehem in the seventh century and is preserved at the
Liberian Basilica in Rome.
The tradition of the Christmas tree and Christmas cards (il-kartolini
tal-Milied) was imported from Germany in the 19th century. There is also
a connection between the exchanging of presents and the feast of St. Nicholas
(Santa Claus), the patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas was a bishop
who lived in the 4th century and his feast is celebrated annually on the
5th December.
Nearly in every town and village a procession is held with children carrying
a small statue of baby Jesus and singing Christmas carols along the way.
In every parish church in Malta and Gozo during midnight Mass a small child,
dressed as an acolyte, recites a sermon narrating the birth of Christ.
Christmas offers a splendid occasion for family gatherings. In most houses
an attractively decorated Christmas tree is put up beneath which are placed
the various presents wrapped in colourful paper. Christmas pudding (il-pudina
tal-Milied) and turkey (id-dundjan) became popular during the first and
second world wars when thousands of sailors and soldiers from the British
Empire were stationed in Malta. The Island was a military and naval base
for the allies. Prior to these wars a rooster (serduq), rather than turkey,
was the bird to be served at Christmas dinner. The traditional Christmas
banquet normally includes the delicious Maltese dish called timpana, backed
macaroni covered with crusty pastry. A special kind of honey-and treacle
rings (qaghaq tal-ghasel) are eaten during the Christmas festivities.
An old tradition that survived up to this day is the sowing of wheat,
grain and canary seed (gulbiena) on clots of cotton in flat pans four weeks
before Christmas and nurtured in the darkness of cupboards in the kitchen.
These seeds shoot up and remain as white as Santa,s beard. They are then
placed next to the infant Jesus and around the crib.
A custom which unfortunately vanished many years ago was the playing
of bagpipes (iz-zaqq). They characterised the music of the shepherds who
tended their flock on Christmas night. Folk memory in Gozo records that
for the midnight Mass on Christmas Eve bagpipes were played in churches
striking a genuine pastoral note.
The most popular Christmas carol, which has been translated into every
language on earth, is Silent Night'. Here is the Maltese version:
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O Lejl ta' Skiet - lejl tal-Milied
Lejl ghaziz - lejl qaddis
Dawwlet is-sema il-kewkba li ddit
Habbret li l-fidwa tal-bniedem inbdiet;
Kristu huwa mhabba bla qies!
Kristu huwa mhabba bla qies!
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Seasons greetings to all. IL-MILIED IT-TAJJEB
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