More Republic Day Parade

Republic Day Celebrations in Valletta

This past Sunday we got up early - well earlyish and set off to Valletta to the market. I thought I already knew where they held the market, so we got off the bus and went through the entrance gates to the city, heading for Republic Street which is where I 'knew' the market was. The first thing that became evident was the Pulizia presence. We hardly ever see police anywhere, but there were lots of police and then as we came up to St. George's Square there were crowds everywhere, a stage had been set up in the square and we asked what was about to happen. A parade. Great - we love pomp and circumstance, and the next couple of hours was filled with pomp. Having grown as a soldier's daughter I was well used to the parade that followed - and there is video attached. The Maltese Army, whose dress uniform is exactly the same as my father's, were out in force. They were lead by their marching band who were excellent, and then mounted soldiers on beautiful horses, followed by the foot soldiers, followed by a lovely old Rolls Royce Bentley carrying the President and his wife, who really looked the part wearing a lovely Ascot style hat. By the time we got to the Square it was pretty difficult to get a good look at the proceedings, but we could certainly hear the Company Sargeant Major directing his men to 'show off'their skills to the President and the people. The band played, the soldiers marched and the people, including us thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. I must say that I wasn't at all prepared for the sound when they removed their bayonets and fired a round of blanks into the air. The report reverberated all around the square, bouncing off the buildings; it made me almost jump out of my skin. And then of course everyone laughs nervously, and then they did it again, just a deafening, but not quite so shocking as we knew it was coming. It doesn't come through the mike on the camera quite as loud as it was, but you get the idea. We never did get to the market, it wasn't where I 'knew' it was. We walked back to the marina and joined in with a dock party which was very nice. A picture is attached of the group of liveaboards. Unfortunately Tony had gone to get more beer during the photo take, so he's not in it.

Church in Cospicua

Fireworks at the Cospicua Procession

Feast Day in Cospicua

Sunday 6th December we had a very long day. We started out in Valetta in the morning and then went over to Cospicua. We were expecting to meet up with cousin Annie and her family and then go over to Maria's house (my other cousin)to surprise her. I knew that their other siblings (my cousins) would all be there, but didn't realise that it would be the Feast day of Cospicua. This day celebrates the day that the Virgin Mary conceived Jesus Christ. It is one of the biggest festas in Malta - more so because Cospicua was 90% destroyed during WWII and their statue of the Virgin Mary, which you will see in the attached videa had to be removed from their parish church for its safe keeping. It was removed to a village called Birkirkara a few miles away which was not such a target for the bombing.(Cospicua was a major target because it was home to the naval dockyards.) The statue survived and the people really do love this statue. About 10 men carried the statue on their shoulders out of the church and down into the town square to be displayed to all of the parishoners. She stayed out in the square for a few hours amongst the hundreds of people while they feasted and sang and generally had a good time. She basically oversaw the proceedings. Tony and I watched as the statue was taken from the church and then we went to Maria's. Maria is the eldest daughter of 9 children. This family I knew very well while growing up. Whenever we were in Malta we spent time with them as we were all similar ages and enjoyed doing the same things - swimming, diving off rocks and having simple fun. We spent the evening with them all, reminiscing and finding out what we'd all been doing for the past 40 odd years, then we went back out into the crowds to enjoy the celebrations. It was alot like being at the most awesome rock concert or sporting event, and it was a religious event where the people have a really good time. The statue was carried back up the road from the town square - uphill to the church steps and then they carried her up the steps to the encouraging applause of the people. When they brought her into the church - which was packed - the applause was deafening. They brought her alongside her regular resting place, and then quite unbelievably lifted her up straight armed so that everyone could see her better. The crowd went crazy when they put this super human effort into lifting her after carrying her so far. When she was lifted into place it was the end of the proceedings and we returned to Maria's house, had a little more to eat and drink and then we all went to our respective homes. It was such a pleasure to meet them all and for Tony to see another part of my family.

Valletta Christmas lights