For
many years, Carnival has completely entrenched itself in Maltese
tradition. It represents a colourful event, in which people from all
walks of life participate. Carnival in Malta takes up five days before
Lent. Traditionally this was the time to indulge and feast before
sobering up for the 40-day fast which in Christian and Catholic
tradition preceded the Resurrection of Christ. Actually carne vale
marked the period when meat and other earthly pleasures could be enjoyed
in a spree prior to the commencement of the term of Lenten penitence. In
Malta the five feastdays are celebrated almost exclusively in the
capital, Valletta, even though one can find numerous activities in other
towns.
Historically, this entertainment can be traced back to the early 1400s. Encouraged by the Grand Masters of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (1530-1798), Carnival declined in the 19th century but managed to live through the period of British rule (1800-1964) and has thus been handed down in an almost unbroken tradition of about six centuries.
During the carnival days, Valletta bursts at the bastions with phosphorescent carnival floats. These floats are the mainstay of the Maltese Carnival. Massive cardboard structures, painted in an explosion of screaming colours, start their route at Floriana on the outskirts of the capital, enter Valletta's main gate, then commence a slow parade through the principal streets. The "city built for gentlemen" turns into the City of Fools for the carnival days. Prizes are awarded for the best artistic dances, costumes, floats and grotesque masks. Before the Second World War, the floats often represented local political figures. In the 1920s and 30s the caricature of political figures often led to tense situations that induced the Government to ban such customs from future editions of Carnival. The Maltese Carnival does not, however, consist only of these floats. Throughout the five days of merrymaking, numerous activities take place throughout the island.
Carnival
in Gozo is a separately organized edition of the festivity. These
festivities were first officially organized in Gozo in the year 1952.
The Gozitans have their own floats and parades. The main activities take
place in It-Tokk, the main square in Gozo's capital Victoria, and in
Nadur square. The Gozitan Carnival bears witness to a separate and
autonomous interpretation of the festive occasion and is therefore
instilled with a character of its own, stemming from the different
temperament of the people who set it up. But a parallel event, which
takes place in Nadur, defies the official definition of a standardized
Carnival activity such as those held in Valletta and Victoria. The
novelty of the Grotesque Carnival on Nadur
is that there is no organizing committee to plot out its course.
Every year, there is the so-called Il-Parata, a re-enactment in dance form of the 16th-century struggle between the forces of Maltese and Knights of St John against those of the Muslim Turks. Nowadays it is mainly children who participate in the dance. The Parata is of special significance in the history of the Maltese Carnival. Under the Knights it was taken very seriously, and the Maltese eagerly awaited its performance because the rule was "no Parata, no Carnival".
Grand Master Zondadari introduced the traditional game Kukkanja (Cockaigne) in 1721. A crowd assembled in the Palace Square on Carnival Monday and at a given signal attacked the hams, sausages and live animals tied to the long beams fixed against the guard house and covered over with branches of trees in leaf. The provisions became the property of those who, having seized them, were able to carry them off in safety through the crowd.
The Carnival spirit lives on, and year after year more tourists visit Malta with the sole purpose to join the revelry of the Maltese Carnival.
