The history behind one of Malta’s most popular Christmas traditions, the PRESEPJU
The oldest crib documented in Malta dates to 1617 at the Dominican Friars church in Rabat.
Malta has endless Christmas traditions that are strictly unique to the islands but perhaps the most popular one is the Maltese crib, otherwise locally known as the presepju.
The presepju is a unique structure depicting the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ, a structure many Maltese households use to decorate their homes during the magical Christmas holidays.
The nativity crib traces its origins all the way back to the 13th century when Saint Francis of Assisi decided to build a re-enactment of the birth of Jesus with real life people and livestock. The idea soon spread and evolved throughout many European countries until it slowly found its way to Malta in the 17th century, Joseph Muscat revealed in his book, The Story of the Christmas Crib in Malta.
Guido Lanfranco, in the article ‘Some Aspects Of Maltese Christmas Traditions’ featured in the Christmas issue of Treasures of Malta, discusses how the cribs in Malta were usually made of local rustic limestone.
However, the arrival of coal in the 19th century brought with it better material for building such cribs. Printing censorship was also lifted in the early 19th century, bringing with it the birth of the popular papier-maché cribs.
Joseph Muscat, however, explains how the practice really took off in the way we know it today after World War II.
In fact, St George Preca was fundamental in the popularisation of the presepju across Malta and Gozo. When he founded the M.U.S.U.E.M, he insisted that all the children there should build a small crib from materials found at home such as papier-maché rock, so they could learn about the birth of Jesus Christ.
Eventually a competition started being organised all over many localities in Malta where prizes for the best cribs were awarded to the children, popularising the Maltese crib even further.
However, it was not always like this. Even though we now might think of the Maltese cribs as being something every Maltese household owns, for a long time it was only reserved for the rich and the Church, as they were the only people who could afford to hire an artist to make it for them.
Thankfully, the art of crib making was popularised over the years, with many nowadays displaying cribs in their homes and many exhibition spaces. A live exhibition crib is even held annually over the Christmas holidays in Gozo by the name of ‘Betlehem f’Ghanjsielem’.
Have you ever made your own presepju?
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