The Santa Marija week is that time of the year when Malta grinds to a halt.

Many factories shut down for a few days to give their employees a collective rest, while other individual workers take a holiday, spending it in Gozo or abroad, or simply spend long days at the beach with their family and friends.

The absence of cars on the roads is noticeable, as traffic moves more smoothly. Except perhaps in Gozo, where there is a heavy influx of vehicles thanks to the hundreds of Maltese who cross over to the sister island.

Even noise around the island seems to subside, especially from construction sites. Most construction workers also stop during this week, and one realises how beautiful it is not to hear jack-hammers, diggers and other construction machinery in our roads.

Regulations state that, in tourist areas, such work should stop between June and September, but many construction companies ignore the rules. So we should be getting this “silence” for a longer period of time, instead of just during this week.

Of course, not everyone is on holiday this week, and we should all spare a thought for the police officers, soldiers, drivers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, caterers, chefs, waiters and, why not, journalists for whom Santa Marija is like any other week of work. For some, it may be even harder because of added workload to serve more customers who are on holiday.

Santa Marija week is also the peak of village feasts, as no less than seven parishes celebrate the feast of Our Lady’s Assumption. It is said that, once this week passes, it is the first sign that summer is coming to a close, with parents starting to prepare for the new scholastic year.

Recently, a psychologist told a local newspaper that it would not be a bad idea for summer holidays to be shortened by two weeks, as nearly three months of “doing nothing but have fun” is not ideal for children. Before teachers start complaining about suggestions to shorten their holidays, this psychologist suggested that the days lost in summer should be distributed during the other seasons and, frankly, it is a suggestion that is worth considering.

From a historical point of view, Santa Marija brings back the memory of when Malta survived the Second World War thanks to the convoy of ships carrying food which limped into Grand Harbour in 1942. History would have taken a different course if those supplies had not arrived.

As more time passes, fewer people remember those eventful days and, unfortunately, today’s generations know little about what took place and, if they do know, they show little appreciation to what our forefathers went through for Malta to fight off Nazism.