The past, present and future of the quintessential Maltese Christmas decoration : the Crib

Abstract

Melvin Bugeja is an ITS alumnus who has graduated with a Master of Arts in Heritage Interpretation in December 2023. His passion for Maltese culture, especially traditional Maltese celebrations, led him to research the Maltese crib for this thesis. This has just been published as a book co-authored with Prof. Simon Mercieca of the University of Malta to enhance our knowledge about this Christian tradition with old roots in our country. Mr Bugeja’s interest is deeply rooted in his family traditions, from his childhood days when his father, as an active member of the the M.U.S.U.E.M (Society for Christine Doctine), would always decorate their home with a medium-sized crib, adorned with locally sourced Italian-style plastic pasturi and Palestinian landscape scenery. This continued in his adulthood, not only with home decorations but also undertaking a significant project, i.e. producing approximately 160 papier-mâché nativity scenes annually for distribution to children at a Christian Centre in his local community. Given this profound personal connection, it became a natural choice to explore the tradition of crib building as the central theme of his thesis.