L-Imnarja : a midsummer festival in contemporary Malta

Abstract

One aim of this paper, mostly based on my research and fieldwork covering the past twenty years or so, is to re-evaluate in its compact outward manifestations one of the national and religious feasts of the Maltese Islands - l-Imnarja - the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, celebrated on June 29 in church in Mdina, the old city, initially with merry-making on the eve at Saqqajja in nearby Rabat. Since the eighteenth century, the merry-making, folk-singing, and later the fenkata were transferred beyond this town to Buskett (Cassar 1994). Races have always been held in the afternoon of June 29 in Rabat. This very old tradition goes back to at least medieval times. Even before the arrival of the Knights of St John in Malta in 1530, this folk festival was held in Rabat, the town having been an agricultural centre, and following the harvest it provided the peasant with a break (Cassar-Pullicino 1983 :8). Another aim of this paper is to focus on the amateurish attitude of the Maltese organizers and pseudo-folklorists that has led to gross misinterpretation of the ritual, lately teetering on the verge of parody and anti-cultural parameters through its mishandling. Many Maltese still persist in their uncritical acceptance of many false concepts of this ritual. Yet, all along there have been some improvements and absorptions of fresh elements, as well as of a change of emphasis from one component part to another in handing down the customs, beliefs and practices relating to L-Imnarja, attributed to its ability to adapt itself to changing times and situations.