Pageant to re-enact Grand Master's visit to Gozo

A grand pageant will be held in Victoria this morning to re-enact an undocumented visit of Grand Master Jean de Valette to Gozo.

The event is being organised by the Malta Tourism Authority in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo and the Gozo Tourism Association. It starts at 11 a.m.

Following the Great Siege of 1565, the citadel's fortifications were inspected to ensure that the fort could withstand future incursions by Ottoman corsairs.

During the pageant, the Grand Master will be welcomed by the population of the town as he approaches It-Tokk on foot under a baldachin. Accompanied by his retinue, he will proceed to the citadel where he will be greeted by the Governor.

The Grand Master will then pay homage to the temple of the Holy Virgin following which he will inspect the state of the fortifications.

In 1551, Dragut, having failed to ransack any of the Maltese towns, decided to assault Gozo's citadel with a vengeance and carried off some 5,000 people into slavery.

Following the Great Siege, the reverence towards the Holy Virgin as a Child - Maria Bambina - increased tremendously as it was on her feast day, September 8, that the siege was lifted.

Since then the feast is also referred to as Il-Vitorja, Our Lady of Victory. This feast nowadays is celebrated in three Maltese parishes and a Gozitan one, that of Xaghra.