I fully concur with the appeal expressed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna in The Sunday Times of Malta (December 23) that we Maltese should continue celebrating Christmas until The Epiphany.
[attach id=690423 size="medium" align="right"]The Epiphany is still a public holiday in a number of European countries. Photo: Shutterstock[/attach]
This feast has been celebrated throughout the Catholic world since the second century. I still recollect that a few decades ago The Epiphany was also a public holiday in Malta but it was abolished by Dom Mintoff’s Labour government post-1971.
The Epiphany is still a public holiday in a number of European countries such as Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, Finland and Slovakia. In Germany and Switzerland it is a public holiday in a number of regions.
Should the government reintroduce this public holiday it will be automatically boosting the economy by extending the Christmas festive season. If good will prevails it can be perhaps substituted for another far less important public holiday.
The Archbishop’s appeal has indeed given us some food for thought.