Local feasts
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H
owever, although as a nation we resemble lace, the last thing we are is truly delicate. We are more Baroque and find it hard to restrain ourselves—we love all things loud, we love fun and colour is everywhere. We even have a religion which we celebrate and pay homage to in the most extravagant of ways. Colour and fun make us whole. June is when the festa season really starts getting into top gear. And get geared up for a real show of colour, sounds, music, food and drink and, yes, quite a bit of solemnity too. This is the intricate us working hard—celebrating noise, pomp and circumstance but still with a sense of solemnity and in awe of
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our heavenly bodies. To many Maltese one of the most important days of the year is the date of the village/town saint’s commemoration. And all sorts of preparation is made to make the day, and the days preceding the festa, a real memorable one. Festa time is when the whole of Malta and Gozo light up. This is all to pay homage to the village, town or city saint or saints. And what a panoply of attractions festa time is. The village or town square and even streets are all covered with lights, festoons are a-flutter, and saints and angels in papier-mâché seem to greet and exhort everyone to enjoy those days of commemoration.