Maria Bambina dominates the festa calendar this week with four towns celebrating the Nativity of our Lady.
The Nativity of Our Lady, Naxxar, 8 September
The Parish of Naxxar was one of the 12 parishes listed by Cardinal de Mello back in 1436, and it was the first to be dedicated to Our Lady after the cathedral in Mdina. The present church was built between 1616 and 1630. Curiously, the church facade has two clocks, but only one is an actual working mechanism. The other is just a painting showing the time as 11.45. In the midst of all the opulence of the festa decorations, take a moment to look at the church’s bronze main door made in 1913 and paid for by a local family Zammit whose coat of arms is, naturally, on one of the panels.
Celebrations kick off with the children’s festa on 1st September at 5:30pm and continue building up throughout the week. The main festa march on 6th September starts at 8:30pm culminating in an impressive pyro-musical mechanised Catherine Wheel display after 11:15pm. Another march with a processional statue of Our Lady is held on the eve of the festa, 7th September, from 7:30pm. The morning feast day march gets underway on 8th September at 11am and the procession with the titular statue is held that evening from 7pm.
The Nativity of Our Lady, Mellieha, 8 September
Il-Bambina is also at the centre of celebrations at the popular hilltop town of Mellieha overlooking Malta’s largest sandy beach. The church was built between 1881 and 1898 with stone cut from the nearby quarry at L-Ahrax tal-Mellieha and laboriously transported up the steep hill by local peasants. The belfries and dome were added between 1920 and 1940 and the church was embellished with paintings by renowned Maltese artists including Giuseppe Cali and Lazzru Pisani.
Musical concerts will be held on Monday and Tuesday in the square outside the church from 7:30pm while brass bands march through the town's streets on Wednesday and Thursday evening from 8pm. During the Thursday march, the national anthem will be played at 9:30pm as the artistic statue depicting Malta is ceremoniously raised onto a pedestal, followed by a fireworks display. As the festa continues to build up on the eve, 7th September, two bands march through the streets culminating in a spectacular fireworks show starting at 10pm and finishing off with the mechanised ground fireworks synchronised to music from 11:45pm onwards. On the big day, 8th September, band marches start from 9:45am. Solemn vespers in the parish church begin at 5:30pm and the procession with the titular statue of Maria Bambina starts at 7pm.
The Nativity of Our Lady, Senglea, 8 September
The original parish church of Senglea dedicated to the Nativity of Our Lady is thought to have been built in 1580 as a monument to the victory of the Knights of St John over the Ottomans in the Great Siege of 1565. The church would eventually become a Basilica in 1921 but was destroyed in World War II. The present church was rebuilt and consecrated in 1957. The church’s main attraction is its wooden statue of il-Bambina carved in 1618 by an unknown sculptor and gilded in 1631. Its crown is encrusted with diamonds and other precious stones. The statue is surrounded by four silver angels which were added in 1934.
The Nativity of Our Lady, Xaghra (Gozo), 8 September
The historic town of Xaghra in Gozo is also in festa mode this week. Its parish church is a testament to the determination and hard work of its residents who worked for free to construct it between 1815 and 1855 after having survived an outbreak of the plague.
Our Lady of Graces, Zabbar, 9 September
Zabbar is famous for its festa, held on the first Sunday after 8th September which this year happens to be the 9th. Our Lady of Graces is the patron saint of cyclists, so the festa includes two pilgrimages featuring cyclists and motorbike riders starting from Rabat and Mosta respectively and driving across the island towards Zabbar. Town residents decorate their rooftops with green or blue lights indicating their allegiance to one of the two rival band clubs: Philharmonic Society Maria Mater Gratiae (the blues) and Għaqda Madonna Tal-Grazzja Banda San Mikiel (the Greens).
The parish church was built between 1641 and 1696 and its impressive baroque facade was added in 1738. The dome was rebuilt in the 19th century after it was damaged during the French Blockade (1798-1800). While you’re in town enjoying the celebrations, pop into the Sanctuary Museum adjacent to the church which features both religious and secular artefacts including two sedan chairs used by Grand Masters in the 17th and 18th centuries.