Spectacular crib at MFCC
December 1st to 18th – MFCC, Ta’ Qali
This year, the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre has teamed up with the Ghaqda Hbieb tal-Presepju to bring to Malta a unique Christmas crib built from eight tons of salt from the Petraia Soprana, Italkali, a mine near Palermo.
The crib, a spectacular artistic representation of the nativity scene, has an area of 60 square metres. The scene is adorned with around 100 terracotta figures representing the traditional characters in a crib together with animals, plants and trees. These statues were made by Michele Perniciaro from Bottega Ceramiche Arpe in Caltagirone. Four persons, including Michele Perniciaro, who is also the president of the Association Amici del Favo, came over to build this crib, at MFCC, Ta’ Qali.
This crib is the main attraction at the Christmas Park, at MFCC, Ta’ Qali, which is open from December 1-18. Other attractions include a chocolate village, a 17-metre high Christmas tree, a light show and a shopping mall.
It took six pastry chefs from Catermax one month to build the chocolate village. To accomplish this lovely edible work, they used 375kg dark chocolate, 90kg milk chocolate, 50kg white chocolate, 100kg icing sugar, 50kg sugar, 20kgs glucose, 30kgs sugarpaste and 15kgs marzipan.
The MFCC Christmas Park is also scented with the smell of a wide assortment of traditional Christmas specialties – food products are sold from the booths throughout the opening hours and include honey rings, Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas log and cake, chestnuts, soups, crepes, waffles, strudels, chocolate covered fruits, cookies, frosted nuts, gingerbread and mulled wine.
You also have the opportunity to do your shopping at the Christmas shopping mall, where you will find a wide variety of seasonal goods, nativity sets, ceramics, ornaments in assorted sizes, toys, jewellery, wines, spirits, perfumes, hampers and more.
This is an event at which people can stroll around, meet friends, and enjoy live performances of Christmas music. With every entrance ticket, which costs €3, you also receive a voucher redeemable against one of these items: a bag of sweets, a glass of mulled wine, a cup of imbuljuta tal-qastan, or Christmas pudding with custard. Children under five years of age will be admitted for free.
The MFCC Christmas Park opens on Thursday, December 1 and will run until Sunday, December 18. It will not be open continuously and on December 5, 6, 14 and 15 will be closed. Different time schedules also apply. For more details visit www.mfcc.com.mt