Inside the Cathedral of St.Paul in Mdina no. 2

Inside the Cathedral of St.Paul in Mdina no. 1

The Cathedral of St.Paul was build from 1697 to 1702 to replace a Norman Cathedral that had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1693. St. Paul's Cathedral has been designed by architect Lorenzo Gafa. The dome's interior has been decorated by a succession of painters; today's decoration dates from 1950's.

Strawberry Festival at Mgarr

This was the third edition of the Strawberry Festival held in Mgarr, Malta. Yesterday Mgarr Square was full of activities for 'Festa Frawli' (strawberry feast).

The activity was organised by the local council and the Resources Ministry.

There was brisk business at stalls selling freshly picked strawberries and gourmet dishes such as strawberry risotto and strawberries with novel dressings.

Drinks included a variety of refreshing smoothies, milk shakes as well as strawberry wine.

Taking part were folk dancers and singers and other local talent.

Bir Miftuh Chapel - Gudja

Gudja (English: Gudia) is a village in Malta with a population of 2,901 (Nov 2005). The village is located on a small hill south of the city of Valletta overlooking Malta International Airport.


Gudja also has a famous 500 year-old chapel of Bir Miftuħ (which means "open well"). Bir Miftuh was already established as a parish prior to 1436 and so it is one of the first twleve parishes of the Maltese Islands. This chapel was built in around 1430 and is one of the best preserved examples of a fifteenth-century parish church in Malta. It has some interesting frescoes, the Chapel is free standing and shows a growing confidence in the handling of stone structures. It has a plain rectangular plan and measures about eleven by fourteen metres.

Mdina Festival weekend

For this weekend Mdina is taking a Medieval look for a festival of flowers and pageantry. There's Medieval Music, singing, street performers and historic re-enactments. Parts of the city are decorated with flowers. There are also Medieval food, games, trades and traditions at a small market set up in one of the squares. Medieval kinghts battling with swords and also Falconries from around the island displaying their birds.

San Girgor Feast

Traditionally held on the first Wednesday after Easter, the feast probably started off as a thanksgiving pilgrimage though some differ on its exact origins.

Some maintain the pilgrimage was held to thank the Lord for freeing Malta from the plague of 1519. Others believe it was a vow made after Malta emerged victorious against the Turks in the Great Siege of 1565. Others still insist it was a sign of thanksgiving for the Lord's protection during a heavy storm in 1343. When the religious part of the feast is over people go to Marsaxlokk for the traditional outing with some opting to open the swimming season.

more photos from Good Friday and Easter Sunday.....

Here are some photos showing this year's resurrection feast in Cospicua and Good Friday procession also in Cospicua. The boy who is on the left hand side wearing the blue outfit is my dear friend Laetitia's son Gedeon who has been taking part in this procession for the last 3 years. Photos taken by Laetitia.

Rough Seas around the Maltese Islands

This photo showing the crossing of the Gozo Channel Ferries from Gozo to Malta, was taken yesterday by Adrian Camilleri and posted on the timesofmalta.com

Resurrection

Romans 1:4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good Friday......

Yesterday was good Friday and in the morning my kids and I went to see a last supper live display. It was organized by a band club in Lija.

Mary Magdalene narrated her story on how she had met Jesus, then came Martha who told us the story of her, her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus. After this came Mary mother of Jesus and also Pontius Pilate. After that we were taken upstairs into another very well prepared room where there was the last supper's table prepared with food and all. Here we were presented with what happened during the last supper.

Last Supper / Maundy Thursday

The Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death. The Last Supper has been the subject of many paintings, perhaps the most famous by Leonardo da Vinci.

According to what Paul the Apostle recounted in 1 Corinthians 11:23–26, in the course of the Last Supper, and with specific reference to eating bread and drinking from a cup, Jesus told his disciples, "Do this in remembrance of me". Other events and dialogue are recorded in the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. Many Christians describe this as the "Institution of the Eucharist" .

Visiting seven churches

The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is an ancient practice, probably originating in Rome, where early pilgrims visited the seven pilgrim churches as penance. They are Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter, Saint Mary Major, Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem, and traditionally Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls. Pope John Paul II replaced St. Sebastian with the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Divine Love for the jubilee year of 2000



Photo taken from the Times of Malta online newspaper.

New President for Malta

Dr. George Abela will take the oath of Office as President of Malta today at noon in a special sitting of Parliament in the Grand council chamber of the President's Palace. George Abela will be the eighth President of the Republic of Malta.

Xemxija

Here are some more shots of Xemxija Valley.

Malta - Gozo - Malta

Gozo Channel provides a roro (roll on roll of ) service between mailand Malta and Gozo all year round. The service provided is for vehicles and passengers and is from the Cirkewwa Harbour in Malta to the Mgarr Harbour in Gozo. The pictures here show the Mgarr Harbour of Gozo.

St. Agatha's Tower a.k.a. Red Tower

St. Agatha's Tower in Malta is similar in style to the Wignacourt towers, though it was completed in 1649 during the Grand Mastership of Juan de Lascaris-Castellar to a design by Antonio Garsin. It is also known as the Red Tower due to the colour it is painted.


St. Agatha's Tower is commonly referred to as the Red Tower. The original structure is a square tower with four square corner towers with cannon ports in the towers giving interlocking fields of fire commanding the base of the walls and the gateway, with large cannon ports in the faces of the main tower. The outer walls are approximately four meters thick at the base and the interior of the tower is enclosed by a barrel vaulted roof. The corner towers are surmounted by very characteristic fish tail crenelations.

The Tower is situated in a commanding position on the crest of Marfa Ridge at the north west end of Malta, overlooking the natural harbour and obvious landing site of Mellieħa Bay with clear views over to Comino and Gozo, and also eastward to the line of watchtowers along the north shore of Malta that linked it with the Knights headquarters in Valletta. It was the Knights' primary stronghold in the west of Malta, and was manned by a garrison of 30 men, with ammunition and supplies to withstand a siege of 40 days.

Like many of the Knights' early defensive structures, during the 18th century it was strengthened by the addition of a much lower profile battery around its flanks. It continued to have a military function throughout the British period, and was manned during both World Wars. From the British period it continued its military function being used as a radar station by the Armed Forces of Malta.

By the close of the 20th century the tower was in poor repair with one turret completely missing and another turret severely damaged. The Tower was the substantially restored by Din l-Art Helwa starting in 1999, with restoration being completed in 2001, assisted by substantial industrial sponsorship. As part of the restoration work the damaged towers were replaced, the walls and were roof rebuilt and eroded stone facing replaced, the interior walls scraped and painted, the original floor uncovered, and the interior staircase to the roof rebuilt. Due to the extreme unevenness of the floor, this was recently covered by a wooden surface with glass apertures through which one can view the original slabs. The Tower is now in the care of Din l-Art Helwa and is open to the public.

Photo taken by my husband whilst I was driving towards the Gozo Ferry.

19th March - St.Joseph's Day

The feast of St.Joseph the worker is celebrated throughout the Catholic world. In Malta the day's celebrations are most vibrant in the town of Rabat. This date was already dedicated to Saint Joseph in several western calendarts in the tenth century. It was accepted in Rome in 1479, and in 1621 it was inserted into the General Roman Calendar for celebration throughout the Latin Rite. Since it always falls within lent Episcopal Conferences may, if they wish transfer it to a date outside lent. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Joseph on the sunday after Christmas.

'FUL' - Broad Beans

In continuation with yesterday's photo here is a photo (still have more to post) of the Xemxija Valley area. This particular field had 'Ful' green broad beans.

Broad beans have a long tradition of cultivation in old world agriculture, being among the most ancient plants in cultivation and also among the easiest to grow.

Interesting Health issues about the broad beans

Broad beans are rich in L-dopa, a substance used medically in the treatment of Parkinson' disease. L-dopa is also a nutrient agent which might help in controlling hypertension. Some also use fava beans as a natural alternative to drugs like Viagra, citing a link between L-dopa production and the human libido. It is also said that in parts of the world the elders generally restrict the young children from eating them raw (when unmatured) because they can cause constipation and jaundice like symptoms.

For more interesting information about these beans just google green broad beans and check them out on wikipedia etc...

Xemxija Bay

Xemxija is a seaside village and is on the northern part of the island just outside St. Paul's bay and also a short distance from the holiday town of Bugibba. Xemxija is also 10 minutes drive away from some of the best beaches on the island. On the west side of this village lies some of the most fertile valleys in Malta, providing a beautiful sight during spring. Photos of these will follow on my next posts so stay tuned :)

Circular objects part 2

Series of circular objects around my town.......

As I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have been browsing through some of the lessons on photography from http://www.skyepuppy.blogspot.com . So here I present to you some photos taken from around my town , this time focusing on circular objects and again different angles.