Holy Week in the Maltese islands is a visible cycle marked by an amalgamation of religious beliefs and spectacular pageantry. Few other local traditions show the same signs of vitality, change and motion as that of the Good Friday processions with life-size images representing the main events of the Passion and Death of Christ and forming a characteristic feature of the Eastertide celebrations in these islands.
These Passion episodes represent the highest form achieved in the papier-mâché technique, which is believed to have been introduced to Malta by an unknown lay brother from Sicily
Various influences have been at work in shaping this tradition. The original impulse came from the Franciscan Friars (popularly known locally as Ta’ Ġiesu), who, notwithstanding the ravages of present-day sectarian conflicts, still have connections with pastoral work in the Holy Land and carry out specific activities centring around the Holy Sepulchre.
There was also a direct influence from religious customs in Spain extended to analagous traditions in Sicily where similar processions introduced on the pattern of the Genoese casazze in the 16th century were gradually elaborated under Spanish control during their period of domination. Also, the Maltese Church’s dependence on the diocese of Palermo up to 1807 may account for the close parallels met with various localities in neighbouring Sicily.
By the end of the 16th century, the Guild of St Joseph linked with the Franciscan Minors in Rabat; this was the first to organise such a procession in Malta, followed by its counterpart, the Guild of the Holy Crucifix at the Valletta Friary. According to the statute, dated 1674, a procession on Good Friday had already been mentioned.
The first statues and draped effigies
Historic anecdotes recall that in the early years of the 18th century, some merchants and sea captains from Vittoriosa happened to witness a procession in a Spanish town on Good Friday, and this experience prompted them to commission a similar set of statues for the parish church of their native city. Some of these effigies, known as manikini draped in fine cloth, still exhibit their faces, hands and feet made of papier-mâché, and up to living memory, were kept in the private homes of wealthy families in Vittoriosa, whose ancestors contributed towards their expenses and care.
The 18th century saw a progressive increase in the number of localities staging these processions. By 1795, the custom had spread from Vittoriosa to Senglea and Cospicua (c.1700), Żejtun (c.1740), Naxxar (c.1750), Qormi (c.1784), Għargħur (c.1792) and Luqa (c.1795).
Similar progress was recorded in the 19th century, extending to Żebbuġ. Between 1800 and 1866, processions with life-sized statues were introduced at Rabat in Gozo, Għaxaq (c.1820) and Mosta (c.1866). Between 1900 and the outbreak of World War II, no further development took place in Malta. The scene, however, shifted to Gozo where the one procession held at Rabat (and a separate manifestation inaugurated in 1968) was added to those of Nadur (1913), Xagħra (1914) and Żebbuġ (1919).
From 1921 onwards, a set of statues appeared at Xewkija but they were not taken out in procession, with the exception of the Pietà group, which developed into a pageant on the Friday known as Jum id-Duluri. Since the end of the last war, a number of statues appeared at Christ the King parish church in Paola, increasing gradually after 1944 and adding more statues lately.
In other churches in Malta and Gozo, a number of statues were either replaced by others or added to the original images. The parish church of Qala in Gozo, with the inauguration of statuary groups year after year, is also organising its own procession leaving the church on a day preceding Good Friday.
As specimen of Maltese popular art, these Passion episodes represent the highest form achieved in the papier-mâché technique, which is believed to have been introduced to Malta by an unknown lay brother from Sicily.
A Maltese barber-surgeon, Saverio Laferla, who practised art as a sideline, successfully used the technique between 1739 and 1742 when he worked on Good Friday statues for the Franciscans’ Ta’ Ġiesu church in Valletta. Many local artists have popularised this technique since the 18th century, the best known being Senglea-born Karlu Darmanin (1825-1909) and in our times Wistin Camilleri in Gozo, who bestowed his talents on his sons, Alfred and Michael.
Vivid portraits from the past
Halfway through the 19th century, George Percy Badger, an English author, who is synonymous with his pen-portrait of Malta during his time, described the procession in Valletta: “The train leaves the church of Ta’ Ġiesu a little before sunset, the fratelli and friars walking in file on each side of the street with huge lighted wax tapers in their hands and chanting as they follow the statues which are carried before them at equal distance in the procession. These images are in general of a large size, and representing the various sufferings of the Saviour until he is laid in the sepulchre which last is a splendid canopy with rich curtains tassellated with gold, having figures as large as life, stretched beneath them. After trasversing several of the streets, the procession re-enters the church from which it came from.”
The first Good Friday processions made their way till very late at night, but in 1879, Bishop Scicluna ordered that henceforth all processions were to be back in church by 8pm. He decreed that these should only be held on Good Friday and also withdrew permission for bands playing during the processions. Due to strong protests and public outrage, bands were once again allowed to take part.
No research study on the theme of devotional iconography would be complete without at least giving an honourable mention to two historic images deeply rooted in the religious beliefs of the Maltese.
The sacred effigy of Christ the Redeemer venerated at Senglea Basilica needs no introduction. This statue, which was already attracting the faithful to its niche since 1681, establishes a living Way of the Cross through the streets of Senglea every time Ir-Redentur leaves his sanctuary.
Another crowd-puller during Holy Week and, indeed, all year round is the miraculous effigy of the Crucifix. Il-Kurċifiss ta’ Ġiesu at the Franciscan church in Valletta was already revered by the faithful with fervour and devotion as early as 1667.
Iconography related to the Maltese Holy Week is only part of a long list of anecdotes and popular beliefs enshrined in the religious folklore inheritance of these islands. Surprisingly, reverence and profanity, faith and tradition produce a vivid co-existence in the calendar of religious events that has to be witnessed rather than narrated.