MALTESE NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS EDITION DEC.2015 Special Christmas Edition 2015 NEXT ISSUE: ANOTHER SPECIAL EDITION - NEW YEAR 2016 www.ozmalta.page4.me/ Page 1 MALTESE NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS EDITION DEC.2015 Dreaming of a maltese christmas expensive and most people couldn’t afford them. So people started making their own ‘pasturi’ from rough clay and plaster. Some of these figures still exist today. (Modern pasturi are now often made of plastic.) By the early to mid 20th century, cribs were thought of as old fashioned and not very popular anymore. To stop the decline of Christmas, in 1907, a priest called George Preca founded children’s charity and society called ‘MUSEUM’. In 1921 he started a tradition of having a Christmas Eve procession with a life size figure of the Baby Jesus being carried at the head of the procession. At sunset on Christmas Eve in 1921, Fra Diegu Christmas is very important to the people of Malta Street in the town of Hamrun was crowded with and its sister Island of Gozo. Most people on Malta children and adults ready to take part in the first are Catholics and go to a Midnight Mass. Usually procession. In those days, street lighting was very the churches are full with people. poor in Malta and so many people brought lanterns In Maltese Happy Christmas is ‘Il-Milied it-Tajjeb’. with them to help them see their way during the The Churches are decorated with lights and nativity procession and to shed light on the statue of Baby cribs, ‘Presepju’, built by the church go-ers. The Jesus carried shoulder-high by four boys. The cribs are decorated with figurines, called ‘pasturi’ different types of lamps included, gas powered (representing figures like the shepherds and bicycle headlamps, oil lamps used on farmer’s angels). Today some of the cribs are mechanical carts, coloured paper lanterns, Venetian lights, and the in them figures move! The figure of the palm fronds and olive branches. The idea became baby Jesus is put on the main altar at midnight on very popular with people of all ages and so the very Christmas night. At epiphany it is traditional to put special Maltese traditional started. These the three figures of the Magi in the crib. There is a processions are still popular today and form part of group on Malta called ‘Friends of the Crib’ who help the Christmas Eve celebrations. to keep the Maltese crib tradition alive. In 1986 the ‘Friends of the Crib’ society was formed Cribs were first introduced into Malta from Italy by and now they have over 500 members. Every year, rich noblemen. They were not popular at first and in the weeks running up to Christmas, the Friends most were burnt. The first true Maltese crib is put on an exhibition of about 100 cribs of all shapes believed to have been made in Malta in 1617 and and sizes. was displayed in the Dominican Friars Church in Maltese houses are often also decorated with cribs Rabat. In St Peter’s Monastery in Mdina, there is a with ‘pasturi’ (which are small plastic or clay figures crib dating back to 1670. This is treasured and representing figures like the shepherds and looked after by the Benedictine Nuns who live in angels). Large figures of the baby Jesus are the monastery. At about the same time, another sometimes put behind windows or in balconies and Maltese man made a crib with moving parts lit at night. Houses are also decorated with powered by water! As cribs became more popular Christmas wreaths, candles and all sorts of other they also became more ‘Maltese’ with people decorations. Every household also has a Christmas replacing the Italian looking buildings and trades Tree decorated with light bulbs, tinsel and people with local ones. (Flour windmills were and Christmas decorations. are still popular buildings to feature in a crib scene.) The first imported Italian ‘pasturi’ were very www.ozmalta.page4.me/ Page 2 MALTESE NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS EDITION DEC.2015 It is traditional to sow wheat, grain and canary mimes and poetry recitals, etc. It is enjoyed by the seed, ‘gulbiena’, on cotton buds in flat pans five children and teachers alike. Christmas parties are weeks before Christmas. These are left in dark also often held in each class. Sometimes the corners in the house until the seeds produce white children bring over food which their parents prepare grass-like shoots. The pans with the fully-grown at home and which is shared with every one in their shoots are then used to decorate the crib or the class. Gifts are exchanged and sometimes money statue of Baby Jesus. is collected which is then given to charity. One Maltese Christmas tradition is the ‘Priedka tat- A concert and Christmas party is held every year at Tifel’ which means ‘the preaching of the child’. A the Residential Home for the Disabled in Siggiewi. boy or a girl normally aged 7 to 10, does the The residents take part in Christmas plays and preaching of the sermon at the midnight mass carol singing helped by the people who work who instead of the priest! The children learn the sermon work in the Home including Nuns. The Home is by heart and start learning it four or five weeks decorated and the atmosphere is great. The chapel before they preach on Christmas Eve. The parents is decorated with a beautiful crib with Baby Jesus. are also very excited and nervous about the On Christmas Eve, a procession with the Baby performance, as they would have helped the Jesus is held and then Midnight Mass. Relatives of children to learn the sermon. The boy or girl tells the residents also participate in the Christmas the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and is celebrations. Special food is prepared and the encouraged to give their sermon a personal atmosphere is very happy! delivery which will touch the hearts of the church- Voluntary organisations also organise Carol goers. Singing evenings in old people’s homes and George Sapiano delivered the first known hospitals, helping to cheer up the elderly and sick Christmas Eve sermon by an altar boy in 1883, in with the spirit of Christmas. the parish church of Luqa. It has also become Under the patronage of the President of Malta, the common for local churches to organise a mini- Community Chest Fund sets up a tent in Freedom pageant with children dressed up as shepherds, Square in the town of Valletta, where volunteers Joseph and Mary carrying a baby doll (representing help to raise donations of cash. The donations are Jesus) acting out the story of the Nativity. This re- then distributed to charity organisations such as enactment starts at 11pm and is followed by High orphanages and other charities, which often rely on Mass at midnight. donations to continue their work in the community. A popular Maltese carol is ‘ninni la tibkix izjed’. It Maltese people have a wide range of food at means ‘sleep and cry no more’ and was written by Christmas. Traditionally, the Maltese house-wife the Jesuit Priest, Fr. Andrew Schembri (1774-1862) kept the fattest rooster, ‘hasi’, especially for from Luqa for Maltese migrants in Tunis. See some Christmas Lunch, which was roasted at the local photos of Maltese Christmas Cribs by Salvatore bakery in a casserole full of potatoes and Debono (goes to another site). vegetables. The traditional desert served at There is a village in Malta called ‘Siggiewi’ Christmas was the Treacle Ring, ‘Qaghqa tal- dedicated to St. Nicholas, who is also known as Ghasel’, and to finish it off, a hot Chestnut and San Niklaw, of Bari in Italy and its feast is Cocoa Soup, ‘Imbuljuta tal-Qastan’, which was and celebrated on the last Sunday of June. is served as a cosy night cap during the cold December days in Malta (see pictures above). Children in Malta get their presents from Santa Claus on Christmas night. Sometimes, Father Today the traditional Maltese menu has made way Christmas comes knocking at doors early on for Christmas Turkey, Christmas Cakes, Christmas Christmas night delivering presents! Puddings and Mince Pies, all inherited during 164 years of British rule (1800 – 1964) in Malta. Italian Schools in Malta often hold a Christmas concert. Panetone has also become a Christmas favourite. Most of the children take part. It consists of Christmas Carols, plays with a Christmas theme, www.ozmalta.page4.me/ Page 3 MALTESE NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS EDITION DEC.2015 Il-Grotta tal-Mużew ta’ Lina Brockdorff - Malta Kont għadni tifla żgħira Xi nies ta’ qalbhom twajba nitgħallem il-Mużew, xxabtu mal-ħitan, Għad hemm iċ-ċkejkna rbaħt grotta f’lotterija, ħarġulna x’erba’ lbiesi, grotta, fraħt biha din tassew. xi mejda u sufan l-istess li irbaħt jien. Hemm għadhom il-pasturi, Dawwartha b’ħafna xemgħa, Fost dawk li huma ġabru wara dal-bosta snin. ġulbiena u ranċis. kien hemm iċ-ċkejken għar; Kewkba qasqast tal-fidda, waqgħu kienu l-pasturi, Għad hemm xemgħa u weħħiltha fuq precis. il-baqra u il-ħmar. ġulbiena, tal-fidda l-kewkba ssib. Ġew fuqna l-jiem qerrieda; Farfartha u ħadtha miegħi Għakemm tidher tant fqajra, tfuliti ntemmet hemm, f’qigħ xelter, hemm ġo ħajt. grotta oħra qatt ma nġib. taħt trab, duħħan u bombi, l-għadu le jerġa’ jsibha maħsula kollha demm. il-grotta li kont qlajt. Għax waqt li nduru magħha b’għajnejna jleqqu sew, Jum minnhom messet lilna Is-snin u l-ġranet gerrbu, tfuliti nerħa’ nilmaħ, ix-xorti ta’ l-oħrajn; illum għandi l-ulied, fil-grotta tal-Mużew.