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Il-Vari Tal-Ġimgħa Mqaddsa Fil-Gżejjer Maltin
Joseph F. Grima
Kullana Kulturali, 78,
PIN Publications pp274
One of the most recent books issued by PIN in the popular series known as Kullana Kulturali is Joseph F. Grima’s masterly work entitled Il-Vari Tal-Ġimgħa Mqaddsa Fil-Gżejjer Maltin.
This timely publication provides a detailed outline of the history of the Good Friday procession in our islands from its very origins to our present times.
Dr Grima’s recent book has definitely filled a void which had been felt for the last couple of decades.
I have to state that this is not the first time that PIN has tried to present to the Maltese public a study of the Good Friday processions on our islands.
In 1992 Michael Schiavone, who is now the general editor of the above-mentioned Kullana, had edited a voluminous publication entitled Il-Purċissjonijiet tal-Ġimgħa l-Kbira f’Malta u Għawdex.
This was a joint effort by various authors who pooled together their resources and produced an interesting collection of studies supervised by an editor.
Dr Grima’s recent publication can perhaps be considered as an accompanying study to the book I have just mentioned since this time the author has focused on the various statues which are brought out in our Good Friday processions.
However, Dr Grima’s work cannot be considered merely as a descriptive study of the individual statues as works of art.
The author has in fact gone beyond such an oeuvre and has provided us with a well-researched and meticulous study of the Good Friday procession itself.
In spite of the lack of documentation, Dr Grima has managed to produce an erudite study which will be of interest for all those who have Melitensia at heart.
In the book’s introduction, the author states plainly that his interest in this particular subject goes back at least 25 years.
He was born and bred in Qormi, the ancient town elevated to city status by Grand Master Pinto, and also the place where the Good Friday procession and the cult of the Passion of the Lord has old roots dating to an undocumented age.
This means that as a child he experienced the fervour preceding the preparations for the Good Friday procession which was characteristic of the main towns and villages in the Maltese islands in the past and which to a certain extent is also the case today.
The book consists of eight sections and each chapter deals with a specific theme related to the Good Friday devotions.
The first chapter focuses on the procession of Our Lady of Sorrows which takes place on the Friday preceding Good Friday and which has been nicknamed by Malta’s foremost poet Oliver Friggieri as L-akbar mass meeting f’Malta.
Then, the book focuses on the Good Friday processions and those of the Risen Christ.
The fourth section of the book is peculiar because the author seeks to study the development and various changes in the presentation of the statues especially since the 1960s, a reality which he calls by the name of iconography.
Misleading as it may seem prima facie, it is, after all, an apt term for such a reality.
All in all, Il-Vari tal-Gimgħa Mqaddsa fil-Gżejjer Maltin is an attractive publication with lots of photos and ample information about our country’s main statuaries and sculptors in both wood and papier-mâché.