As the Santa Maria feast passed, people across the Maltese islands were treated to immaculate pyrotechnic displays in various localities.

Throughout the weekend, the localities of Mosta, Mqabba, Qrendi, Gudja, Attard, Hal-Ghaxaq and Victoria, Gozo draped their churches in preparation for the yearly tradition of the Santa Maria feast.

For the second year running, Maltese feasts were plagued by the pandemic and the only traditional aspect which remained unburdened by Covid-19 mitigation measures were the fireworks displays.

The Covid-19 mitigation measures altered the way we celebrate feasts. The traditional processions, marches and gatherings have been missing from our feasts for the past two years.

In order to further prevent the congregation of people, the relevant authorities even prohibited churches from displaying the statues of their devout saints on the parvis of churches and cathedrals for worship purposes.

The Mosta and Mqabba fireworks displays were nothing shy of spectacular and thanks to the Mtarfa local council, The Malta Independent was given access to the Mtarfa clock tower where a clear perspective of both pyrotechnic displays was available.

The highlight of both displays was at the end of the feast where, to finish off, both Mosta and Mqabba made use of their respective ‘Ballun tal-Blalen’.

The ‘Ballun tal-Blalen’ is a sight to be seen, after an initial explosion which will not reveal much, the firework will then evolve into a wide ball of multiple fireworks which rain over the village in a display of fire and light.

 

Photos: Giuseppe Attard and Neil Camilleri