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¤ The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is being celebrated in Xlendi today.

At 10 a.m. Bishop Nikol Cauchi will lead a Pontifical concelebrated Mass, while Mass in English will be celebrated at noon.

There will be aquatic games and a greasy-pole competition will be held between 3 and 7 p.m. Munxar and Xlendi mayor Joseph Sultana will present trophies to the winners.

A procession with the statue of Our Lady, accompanied by the St Gregory Band, leaves the church at 7.30 and ends with the singing of the antiphon Flos Carmeli and a sacramental blessing.

¤ The Fjur t'Assisi choir of the Capuchin church in Victoria, is holding a fund-raising car wash on the square in front of the church (on the road to Marsalforn) today from 10 a.m. to noon. The fee for a car wash is Lm1.

¤ The feast of Our Lady of Victory is being celebrated in Xaghra this week.

Today at 2 p.m. traditional horse and donkey races will be held, while the Leone Band will play marches in the streets at 9.

Tomorrow, at 7 p.m., Mgr Salv Brincat will celebrate Mass with the collegiate chapter and clergy, for those celebrating their 25th and 50th wedding anniversary as well as engaged couples. The Voci Angeliche choir will take part.

At 9.30 the statue of Our Lady will be carried from the parvis of the church of Jesus of Nazareth to Victory Square, where the statue will be placed on the Great Siege monument at midnight. The Victory and Precursor bands will take part.

On Tuesday at 9 a.m., archpriest Mgr Eucharist Sultana will lead a concelebrated Mass to commemorate the Great Siege at 10 a.m. Flowers will be placed on the Siege monument.

Bishop Nikol Cauchi will lead the solemn translation, with the antiphon Nativitas Tua, solemn vespers and a Eucharistic celebration at 6.30 p.m.

At 9, the Victory and St Margaret bands will perform on Victory Square, followed by a ground fireworks display in Temples Street.

On Wednesday, the day of the feast, at 9.15 a.m. Bishop Nikol Cauchi will lead a concelebration with the collegiate and cathedral chapter. Fr Joe Zammit will deliver the panegyric.

The Beland and St Gregory bands will play marches at 11.

After solemn vespers, led by Mgr Sultana, at 5.30 p.m., the procession, with the statue of Our Lady, leaves the church at 7. The Victory Band will take part, while the Leone Band will perform on Victory Sqaure.

¤ A Victory Day ceremony marking the lifting of the two Sieges of 1565 and 1940-43, is being held on Independence Square, Victoria, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Wreaths will be placed at the foot of the monument of Christ the King. The Police Band and a number of officers of the Armed Forces of Malta will also take part.

¤ A barbecue is being organised by Xaghra United FC at the Xaghra playing field on Friday at 8.30 p.m. Tickets may be obtained from members of the committee.