The Ggantija solar festival will be held on Saturday 5 August at 8.30pm in Xaghra, Gozo.

The legend of Ggantija and Sansuna will be dramatised for the first time in a light, sight and sound show at the temple site. The event is being coordinated Xaghra mayor Joe Spiteri, Xaghra local council and a number of sponsors.

Most of the hotels in Gozo are also offering special rates and discounts.

Transportation and shuttle buses will be available for round trips from Mgarr Harbour, the hotels and the temple site.

As the story goes, these Islands were once one. The Maltese archipelago formed a mountain range the people called The Sacred Mountain of the Gods. They built sanctuaries to these gods, temples and stone circles. One of the first to be completed on one of the highest plateaux was Ggantija.

Legends has it that in those early, dawn days, giants walked the land. Ggantija, the “Temple of the Giants”, owes its magnificence to the might of one in particular named Sansuna, a woman whose strength, it is said, came from a special diet of broad beans. She carried the huge stone boulders on her head up from the quarry to the temple site. They are some of the largest megalithic blocks used in the construction of the temples.

This show tells her story, describes the creation of Ggantija and reenacts the Solar Festival held there at the beginning of each growing season.

For more information, visit the website: www.ggantija. com or email alive@ggantija. com or call 2155-0334.