| Christmas in Malta
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Don’t you underestimate Malta for its near insignificant size! Floating on the Mediterranean and lying to the south of Sicily it has already carved out a niche for itself in the world market as a booming holiday hotspot. Warm temperate climate of Malta gets merrier in winter attracting thousands of tourists every year. Malta is a diver’s paradise flaunting prehistoric temples and baroque churches but very few are aware of Malta’s elegant past.Come and experience an out of the world Christmas in Malta.
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Christmas is a big event for the islanders of Malta and its sister Island Gozo. Since Malta is predominantly Catholic, churches are jam-packed with believers on the Midnight Mass Service.A unique feature of Malta are the nativity cribs known as the ‘Presepju’ and the figurines made out of rough clay and plaster referred to as the 'pasturi' which adorns the churches and the houses during this time of the year. A figurine of baby Jesus is placed on the main altar at midnight on the Christmas night while three figures of the Magi are placed on the crib at Epiphany.
Besides the Maltese crib tradition, there exists the tradition of carrying around the life size figure of the Baby Jesus at the head of a procession on the Christmas Eve. Maltese decorate their houses and the tree and receive gifts from Santa like we do in any western country and place large figures of the baby Jesus behind windows or in balconies. 'Priedka tat-Tifel' meaning 'the preaching of the child' is the lead Maltese tradition where a boy or a girl, normally aged 7 to 10 years preaches the sermon instead of the priest. The Children learn the sermons by heart four or five weeks before the Christmas Eve.
It is traditional to sow wheat, grain and canary seed, 'gulbiena', on cotton buds in flat pans five weeks before Christmas. These are then left in dark corners of the room until the seeds produce white grass-like shoots. These fully-grown shoots are used to decorate the crib or the statue of Baby Jesus. Though the traditional Christmas foods were 'hasi', Treacle Ring, 'Qaghqa tal-Ghasel', a hot Chestnut and Cocoa Soup, 'Imbuljuta tal-Qastan', Turkey, Christmas Cakes and Italian Panetone has now taken their place.
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