Christmas in Malta

How the Maltese celebrate Christmas

Malta is a predominantly Catholic country, and Il-Milied is first of all a religious feast. Parish churches are decorated with lights and cribs, homes put up wreaths, candles and lit trees, and many families place a figure of the Infant Jesus (Ġesù Bambin), often a family heirloom, in a window or on a balcony. Nearly every household, church and village has its presepju, and villages take friendly pride in having the most elaborate one.

Malta also carries traces of its history. Cribs came from Italy, while turkey, Christmas pudding, mince pies and pantomime arrived during more than 160 years of British rule, from 1800 to 1964. The result is a Christmas that mixes Mediterranean Catholic tradition with familiar British customs.

The presepju and its pasturi

The presepju, the nativity crib, is the heart of the Maltese Christmas. The custom was brought from Naples and Sicily, reportedly first by noblemen, and the first true Maltese crib is believed to have been set up by the Dominican friars in Rabat in the early 17th century, with 1617 the year usually given. Locals were slow to take to it at first, but it soon became a Maltese tradition with a character of its own.

A Maltese crib does not show the deserts of Judaea. Instead the Holy Family sits in a manger surrounded by a Maltese landscape of rocky hillsides, caves, flour windmills and ancient ruins. The figures, the pasturi, were traditionally sculpted and painted in clay by Maltese craftsmen; poorer families made their own from clay and plaster, and many are now plastic. A favourite is il-għaġeb tal-presepju, the shepherd struck with wonder at the sight of the Infant Jesus. The figure of the Infant is placed in the manger at midnight on Christmas night, and the Magi are added at Epiphany.

The Friends of the Crib society, formed in 1986, has more than 500 members and holds an exhibition of about 100 cribs in Valletta before Christmas. In Gozo, crib tours run through December to the most richly decorated villages.

Gulbiena: the white shoots of the crib

About five weeks before Christmas, Maltese families sow gulbiena: seeds such as wheat, grain or canary seed, spread in flat dishes, kept damp and hidden in a dark corner. Without light, they grow into thick tufts of pale, almost white shoots. At Christmas the dishes are set around the crib or the statue of the Infant Jesus, or on windowsills as a living decoration.

Christmas Eve: midnight Mass and the boy's sermon

Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve is the high point of the Maltese Christmas, and parish churches are usually full. In many parishes the sermon is the Priedka tat-Tifel, "the boy's sermon": instead of the priest, a boy of about seven to ten, often an altar server, climbs into the pulpit and delivers a short Christmas sermon. The custom is usually dated to 1883, when George Sapiano gave the first known sermon of this kind at the parish church of Luqa.

Christmas Eve also brings processions of the Infant Jesus, in which a statue of the Infant is carried through the streets by young people with lanterns, singing carols. The custom was begun in 1921 by George Preca, the Maltese priest who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine, known as MUSEUM, in 1907 and was canonised in 2007; the first procession went along Fra Diegu Street in Ħamrun. After Mass, many families sit down to an early Christmas breakfast of mqaret, date-filled pastries, with coffee, or something stronger.

Christmas Day is for family. Extended families gather for a long lunch of several courses and visit relatives and friends, and gifts are optional and often small.

Bethlehem f'Għajnsielem: Gozo's live nativity village

On Malta's sister island of Gozo, the village of Għajnsielem stages Bethlehem f'Għajnsielem, a live nativity village launched in 2008 and founded by Franco Ciangura. Spread over more than 20,000 square metres of fields at Ta' Passi, it recreates Bethlehem with more than 150 costumed actors, who improvise their roles as villagers. Visitors walk past a live nativity stable, an inn, a bakery, a carpenter's workshop, a blacksmith, a working farm and a market, watch local women making Gozo lace and meet the animals. Re-enactments include the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem and, around Epiphany, the Adoration of the Magi, with the Wise Men arriving from Malta.

The village usually opens in mid-December and runs on selected days, mostly weekends and public holidays, until early January. Entry is free, and donations support local organisations. Visit Gozo has reported more than 120,000 visitors in a single five-week season.

Valletta and the Christmas season

In Valletta, the capital, streets are hung with Christmas lights and decorations, and a Christmas market and pop-up markets around the islands sell gifts and seasonal food; Mdina and Sliema are also decorated. Christmas pantomime is a British-era tradition that has stuck: the Manoel Theatre in Valletta, built in 1731, stages a pantomime each Christmas season. Concerts, carol services and theatre productions fill the calendar through December.

Public holidays at Christmas in Malta

December in Malta has three public holidays. 8 December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception (Il-Kunċizzjoni), opens the season. 13 December is Republic Day (Jum ir-Repubblika), marking the day in 1974 when Malta became a republic and the first President took office. 25 December, Il-Milied, is Christmas Day. 26 December, the feast of St Stephen (San Stiefnu), is not a public holiday in Malta, unlike in the UK. New Year's Day, L-Ewwel tas-Sena, is a public holiday on 1 January.

Malta does not move holidays to a weekday when they fall on a weekend. Instead, under a change to the law made at the end of 2020, workers receive an extra day of leave. In 2026, Republic Day falls on a Sunday.

Traditional Maltese Christmas food

Qagħaq tal-għasel, often translated as "honey rings", are the Maltese Christmas sweet. Figolli, pastries sometimes listed as Christmas sweets, actually belong to Easter.

New Year in Malta

On New Year's Eve, crowds gather in Valletta for the countdown to midnight, with fireworks over the Grand Harbour, while Sliema and St Julian's fill with parties and restaurants serving special menus. New Year's Day is a public holiday. It is also a time for sending greetings to family and friends abroad, and New Year cards to send after Christmas are available free to share online, along with New Year 2027 status images, quote cards and ready-to-send wishes. The season ends at Epiphany on 6 January, when the Magi take their place in the crib.

Maltese Christmas season dates 2026

Bethlehem f'Għajnsielem publishes its opening days each season; it usually runs from mid-December to early January.

Christmas in Malta: frequently asked questions

Christmas in nearby countries