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Christmas Celebrations in Malta

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Christmas is a highly celebrated festivity in Malta and its sister island Gozo, both for its religious significance as well as its social aspect. The season is celebrated to its fullest – one can witness the strong Maltese Christmas spirit while walking down a main town street with an exaggeration of lights and Christmas carols playing in the background.
The Maltese put up a Christmas tree and a crib in almost every household and some decorate with Christmas lights, inside the house and out. Large figures of the baby Jesus are sometimes put behind windows or in balconies and lit at night. It’s traditional to sow wheat, grain and canary seed, ‘gulbiena’, on cotton buds in flat pans five weeks before Christmas. These are left in the dark until the seeds produce white grass-like shoots. The pans with the fully-grown shoots are then used to decorate the crib or the statue of Baby Jesus.
One Maltese Christmas tradition is the ‘Priedka tat-Tifel’ which means ‘the preaching of the child’. A boy or a girl, normally aged 7 to 10, does the preaching of the sermon at the midnight mass instead of the priest! The Children study the sermon by heart. The parents, especially, are also very excited and nervous about the performance as they would have helped the children to learn the sermon. The boy or girl tells the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and is encouraged to give their sermon a personal delivery which will touch the hearts of the church-goers.
Schools in Malta often hold a Christmas concert. Most of the children take part. It consists of Christmas Carols, plays with a Christmas theme, mimes and poetry recitals etc. It is enjoyed by the children and teachers alike. Christmas parties are also often held in each class. Sometimes the children bring over food which their parents prepare at home and which is shared with everyone in their class. Gifts are exchanged and sometimes money is collected which is then given to charity.
Today the traditional Maltese menu has made way for Christmas Turkey, Christmas Pudding, and mince pies, all inherited during the 164 years of British rule. Italian Panetone, Christmas Log and Christmas Cake have also become Christmas favorites. Traditionally, the Maltese house-wife kept the fattest rooster, ‘hasi’, especially for Christmas Lunch, which was roasted at the local bakery in a casserole full of potatoes and vegetables. The traditional desert served at Christmas was the Treacle Ring, ‘Qaghqa tal-Ghasel’, and to finish it off, a hot Chestnut and Cocoa Soup, ‘Imbuljuta tal-Qastan’, which was and is served as a cosy night cap during the cold December days in Malta.
Voluntary organisations organise Carol Singing evenings in old people’s homes and hospitals, helping to cheer up the elderly and sick. Under the patronage of the President of Malta, the Community Chest Fund sets up a tent in Freedom Square in the town of Valletta, where volunteers help to raise donations of cash. The donations are then distributed to charity organizations such as orphanages and other charities, which often rely on donations to continue their work in the community.

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