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Christmas in Malta is celebrated in grand style. The Maltese love to decorate their homes with all sorts of Christmas decorations and the Christmas spirit can be felt all over the islands. December in Malta is not very cold. Usually temperatures vary between 19 and 9 degrees. Snow is very, very rare in Malta so it is virtually impossible to experience a white Christmas. Streets in Valletta and other major shopping areas are adorned with beautiful Christmas lights. Some shopping centres also install megaphones in the streets so that the visitors can even listen to Christmas carols. The most popular Christmas carols have been translated in Maltese. Jesuit Fr. Andrew Schembri (1774-1862) from Luqa wrote a couple of original Maltese Christmas carols, including ‘Ninni la tibkix izjed’ (Sleep, don’t cry anymore). This is a lullaby for Baby Jesus. It is one of the most popular Christmas carols in Malta. Practically everyone, adults and children alike, can sing it by heart.
Houses in Malta are also decorated with typical twinkling lights and Christmas trees. One of the main Christmas traditions is the crib ‘Presepju’. Cribs are made of newspapers which are moulded, glued and painted to resemble a cave. Ready made ones can be bought in different sizes. Small clay statues are then placed in the crib. Nowadays you can find a variety of plastic ones as well for sale. Cribs in Malta come in all different styles and sizes. Some go for the extended crib which usually takes up the whole dining table and includes all aspects of life in Bethlehem. Others even include mechanical moving objects like windmills, moving donkeys and lights. Flowing rivers are also common. These cribs are then placed in front of the window on street level so passers by can have a look. There are also open cribs usually in garages which occupy a whole room and are open to visitors at a small charge or donation. Sometimes you might even come across a live crib which includes a real donkey and cow in a manger.
A statue of Baby Jesus lying in a bed of straw is found in most Maltese homes. Vetch is sown a couple of months before in small basins with cotton wool. It is watered and kept in a closed dark cupboard. Seeking light, the plant grows extremely long and white with little green tips. In December it is taken out and placed near baby Jesus.
The real Christmas celebration starts on Christmas Eve when late at night a procession is held leading to the church. This is done in most towns and villages in Malta and Gozo. Each will have children dressed up as the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, 3 wise men and shepherds. Some processions even manage to include a real new born baby instead of a doll to represent baby Jesus.
Once in the church, the procession is usually transformed to a pageant with children singing and dancing. After that the typical 'Priedka tat-tifel' (Christmas homily given a child) is held. A young boy dressed as an altar boy goes up on the altar and recites a sermon. After weeks of work, the young boy would have learnt his sermon by heart. The sermon is usually a few thoughts for the Christmas period seen from a child’s sincere point of view and brings smiles on all the listeners’ faces. This is then followed by the Christmas mass. After mass, some go back home to open their presents. Lately, Christmas Early Breakfasts have also become common and are organised in most hostels.
Christmas Day is celebrated with family. Families gather in one house for lunch and stay there till the evening. Christmas lunch in Malta consists of turkey 'dundjan'. Other traditional Christmas food is qaghaq tal-ghasel ‘honey rings’, and Christmas pudding ‘pudina tal-Milied’.
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