Celebrate Christmas In Malta
Christmas is very important to the people of Malta and its sister Island of Gozo. Most people on Malta are Catholics and go to Midnight Mass Service. Usually the churches are full with people. In Maltese Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Il-Milied it-Tajjeb’. Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages. The Churches are decorated with lights and nativity cribs, ‘Presepju’, built by the church go-ers. The cribs are decorated with figurines, called ‘ pasutri ’ (representing figures like the shepherds and angels). Today some of the cribs are mechanical and the figures in them move! The figure of the baby Jesus is put on the main altar at midnight on Christmas night . At Epiphany it is traditional to put the three figures of the Magi (Wise Men) in the crib. There is a group on Malta called ‘Friends of the Crib’ who help to keep the Maltese crib tradition alive. Cribs were first introduced into Malta from Italy by rich noblemen. They were not popular at first and most were burnt. Th...