Air Malta’s baguette, Qormi’s banana festival and the infamous car shooting in the Tal-Qroqq tunnels have made it to this year’s carnival poetic farce known as Qarċilla.
The humorous and irreverent marriage contract, which has been read out during carnival celebrations for at least 250 years, has been updated for the second time by Trevor Zahra and will be acted out in St John’s Square, Valletta on February 14.
This once-popular representation used to be read in Valletta and villages. It was rewritten every year until 1991, when it was read out in Xagħra.
One of the oldest Qarċilla known to date was written by Cospicua-born priest Fr Feliċ Demarco in 1760 and is laden with more vulgar connotations than Mr Zahra’s version.
Read by someone pretending to be a notary, this burlesque marriage contract lists the things that the soon-to-be-newlyweds have to give each other and the gifts they will be receiving from guests.
“Last year’s version was welcomed positively, so this year the carnival committee encouraged more political satire. No one got offended and we didn’t receive any negative reactions because it’s all done in a carnival spirit,” Mr Zahra said.
No one got offended last year and we didn’t receive any negative reactions
Although the politicians and other people who made last year’s headlines are not mentioned by name, the Qarċilla is peppered with enough clues for people to identify the protagonists.
This, together with verses sung to the tune of a popular rhyme, will hopefully engage those present to witness the marriage between Silvana Silvatku and Karmenu-Karistu Karwana.
The Qarċilla will also be read out at the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa on February 16 and at the National Museum of Natural History, in Mdina the following day at 8pm.
At the Inquisitor’s Palace, Olvin Vella will give a short talk about the linguistic value of the ancient qrieċel while in Mdina Bernard Micallef will speak about the literary value of the first Qarċilla. Tickets sell at €15. More information at http://shop.heritagmalta.org.
The events are organised by Heritage Malta, L-Akkademja tal-Malti and the University of Malta.