Mnarja:
Yesterday and Today
by Daniel Bartolo
The
'Mnarja' feast is a typical Maltese feast which includes a mixture of
tradition, religion, food, colours and music. Although it is one of the
oldest feasts, it is still celebrated nowadays.
'Mnarja', or the feast of St. Peter and St Paul, was given its importance by the knights of St. John. It was called 'luminaria' (luminous). They used to do the torchlight procession at the cathedral's facade and fire 100 petards. They used to ask for permission to celebrate such a feast to Sicily. In those days Malta was still dependent of Sicily in many aspects especially religious ones. The feast of St. Peter and St. Paul at first used to be celebrated at the grotto of St. Paul. Afterwards it started being celebrated at the Cathedral.
People
from all over the island used to spend the whole night eating and
singing besides the fortifications of Mdina. In the following morning
they used to organise races. The procession in Imdina was organised for
the first time around 1613. The local government used to present a large
candle stick to the cathedral and used to sponsor all the races. In the
seventeenth century, at the cathedral, organs and choirs started to form
part of the feast.
Before the coming of the Knights of St. John these used to be the reading of the script ('bandu') with which the feast was officially opened. The script is nowadays read in many areas in Rabat and Imdina. The Maltese scouts are usually seen at Saqqajja (Rabat).
In the gathering of the Banca Giuratale, there used to be flags. The Banca Giuratale was sort of a Maltese government. The building used by them is used nowadays by the local council of Mdina. This ceremony was revived by the Agrarian Society in 1986. Nowadays such event is organised by the Mdina local council. It takes place in Valletta (St. John) on the 24th of June.
In the sixteenth century there were the races for men, boys, slaves and donkeys as well. The flags used to be presented in front of the Banca Giuratale, then there used to be an open air theatre, constructed yearly for the great occasion. Their 'trophies' were maybe swords, caps or handkerchiefs.
The
famous Buskett (a sort of a national park) is mentioned in the 18th
century where people used to spend the night before the Mnarja's feast.
The agriculture show was initiated when Reid was the British governor of
the island in 1854. Reid was a man in love with nature and man's
intelligent use of it. Nowadays farmers take some of their best products
to Buskett. Regarding food, many people like to taste the rabbit on that
day. It is sort of a national tradition in food.
There used to be a particular Maltese type of singing too (ghana). In the past, singing was overshadowed by fighting because some used to sing in order to pass on offensive remarks to their friends.
