It’s Carnival time at Nadur
by Joe Zerafa

During the five days of Carnival, the cry: "Let's go to Nadur and have fun" is heard throughout Gozo and Malta. In fact the main road of Nadur is literally packed with thousands of people who enjoy the revelry which goes on into the early hours of the morning during the Carnival days.

The creativity and spontaneity of it all makes it unique in the Maltese Islands. It is not organised by any committee and subsequently no rules apply. Sunset invites a multitude of masked and hooded creatures to throng the streets of Nadur - creatures wearing all kinds of funny and grotesque costumes, representing every sort of leg-pulling, all ways of life, and steaming off all kinds of frustrations.

There is no end to imagination - imagination inspired by the every day ills and sufferings. Revellers wearing only a sheet or bedspread, in boiler suits, in clergy or nuns (although they've become illegal now) habits wearing grotesque masks representing the world leaders - all walk up and down the streets for hours on end. All are covered from head to foot and no one dares stop and unmask these devils. All one hears is a confusion of the sounding of horns, ringing of bells, banging, whistling and anything that could add to the din and create an eerie and bizarre atmosphere.

It is not uncommon to be able to watch the mimicking of a wedding ceremony, couples in bed on wheels feigning lovemaking, in exaggerated pregnancy costumes, the carrying of live or dead mice in cages and others dressed up as doctors and nurses performing operation by sawing off limbs. All of them walk up and down the street, arousing the curiosity of the onlookers who try to identify the real person but of course to no avail as the mask covers it all.

Adding to the din and cry are popular folkloristic Gozitan Bands called "Id-Daqqaqa", consisting in seven instruments giving a continuous melody heard only in Carnival time. It attracts the onlookers and invites everybody to dance to the tune in circles. The bands which are grouped on pavements or in wine shops consist of the "rabboba" (cat/rabbit skin tightened to a tin with a reed in the middle played by rubbing a sponge up and down the reed); a pair of wooden castanets; a small drum with six pairs of circular tin plates fixed round the edge and held in one hand and beaten with the other; the "zaqq" (resembling the Scottish bagpipes but simpler, like those found in Sicily); the guitar which started being played when the "zaqq" became hard to come by; the triangle played by hitting it with an iron rod and a hand organ. Originally the hand organ was a simple one with buttons on both sides but the most recent one is more like a piano accordion with a small piano on the right side.

Carnival has always been popular in Nadur. Though life was hard and tough, our forefathers found time to relax and enjoy themselves a few days in a year. As far back as 1721, special festivities were organised including the traditional game "Kukkanja". On Carnival Monday and Tuesday greasy poles used to be mounted in the village square with live animals and baskets full of meat, sausages, eggs and food fixed to rope ladders tied from one pole to the other. On top of the pole there used to be a statue representing Fame holding the coat of arms of the grandmaster. At a given signal the youths would climb the slippery poles, grab what they could and the climb down and force their way through the crowd which did not hesitate to share in the spoils. The lucky one who would reach the statue on top used to be given a sum of money. Grandmaster De Rohan, however, stopped this practice during the tenure of office 1775-1797, Under British rule efforts made to revive the "Kukkanja" proved fruitless.

Carnival continued to be celebrated in one of the main streets of Nadur up to the end of the Second World War. Festivities lasted a fortnight with revellers drinking wine and pelting the children with confetti. The British forces on the island used to join the revelry which went on far into the night. No masks however were allowed after sunset. After the end of the war, carnival festivities continued to be organised in the main street of Nadur where it is still being held. In the 1970's however, Carnival was all but dead, as the police were very strict and used to unmask everyone they met after sunset to avoid any incident leading to the breaking of law and order.

These last few years, however, Carnival has again flourished in this village to the enjoyment of Gozitans and Maltese alike as well as to the tourists who join the revelry. It is a unique experience to be part of this masquerade at Nadur. It is doubtful whether any organized activity can prove to be such an attraction and crowd puller, for as long as there is hypocrisy in life - preaching one the thing and practicing another - it probably cannot be expounded more spontaneously if not so sincerely.