The feast of the Shipwreck of St Paul was celebrated in Valletta yesterday, under clear blue skies and beautiful weather, which is not always the case, this being winter.

Wearing themed tops, including white sweatshirts with “Pawlini” (followers of St Paul), printed in red, the more fanatical Valletta residents accompanied the band marches and later, in a more sombre environment, the procession with the statue of the patron saint.

Even though the temperature dropped a degree or two over the past days, the weather held, much to the joy of the feast supporters and visitors, who last year were left disappointed by the non-stop rain that prevented the gold-leaf statue from leaving the church.

The feast is one of the most important in Malta’s Catholic calendar, marking the shipwreck in Malta of St Paul, who is believed to have converted the island to Catholicism.