Blogmas Day 23: Maltese Christmas Traditions

Like everywhere else in the world Maltese lands have their own Christmas traditions, the same traditions I grew up and still have memories about each one.

Midnight Mass and Children’s Procession

One of the oldest customs in Malta during Christmas is that of midnight, and the child procession is a tradition going back to 1883, this procession which is better known as (Il-Priedka tat-Tifel) in Maltese. This sermon is not given out by the priest but by a kid about the age of 7 or 8. Since it’s a religious event and that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. What I remember we use to do is look for a sermon taking place earlier than midnight so, not to seat in my wheelchair for so long. Then we would go home and open some presents.

The Vetches (Ġulbiena)

This plant can come from gains, wheat or canary seeds and they grow they look like stringy white pasta and typically get used as decorations during Christmas. Usually, The Vetches (Ġulbiena) gets planted the first few days of November, since, it takes about a month to grow and get full. If I remember right, my mum doesn’t do this tradition, but I use to enjoy to look at when I went to my aunt’s.

Christmas At School

In my eyes, the kids are who make this holiday. Each class decorates in a unique way that shows the class personality. Each school does a Christmas concert as a way to end that year. A newer tradition is the secret Santa which is a gift exchange of sorts. One memory I have is going with my classmates to watch a movie, and the whole school would go plus a Christmas party in class.

Food

We Maltese love to eat so, of course, we have food that we make just for this season. For us, it’s a Christmas dinner if you can feed your family for a week from leftovers. From meats to desserts like baked pork/chicken, to sweet treats like Chestnut pie(”Pastizzotti tal-qastan”), Treacle rings also known as honey rings(”Qagħaq tal-għasel”) and Chestnut puree (”Imbuljuta”).

Thanks for reading about the Maltese Christmas traditions.

Alex