The True Symbol of Christmas ?

Christmas Day 2024 - In the UK, as in most of Europe, and even faraway places such as Brazil, it’s the Christmas Tree that symbolises Christmas in every home up and down the land. Europe itself devours over fifty million of them every year. In Malta however, that’s not the case, as it’s the crib (or presepju as the Maltese would say) that’s the main focus of attention, taking centre stage inside every traditional Maltese home; for some, it’s also a status symbol and a chance to show off. Christmas trees are a plenty though, as most towns and cities will have one in the main square or piazza, but they are perhaps, more for the tourists, as Malta is an all-year-round destination. Christmas Trees only started to become popular in the country eighty or so years ago, after the Second World War, whereas cribs can trace their history much further back.

The love affair with the crib began four hundred years earlier in fact, to the time of the Knights of St John, with the first recorded crib on the island built in the early 1600’s, at the Church of the Dominican Friars in Rabat. From there, the passion grew, originally influenced by the Neapolitans and Sicilians, in their own Italian style. Neapolitan cribs tended to be split into three levels in a triangle shape and were popular with the nobility and others with deep pockets, who could afford them. They would often follow the style of the owner so Mary and Joseph would be depicted wearing quality robes and the baby Jesus would be shown as being quite chubby - a sign that the family didn’t want for food and ate well. Those who weren’t so well off preferred the simpler Sicilian style, introduced to Malta by a Franciscan friar, Benedetto Papale, who lived on the Mediterranean island in the late 1800’s. These cribs depicted scenery reminiscent of the Maltese countryside and, more importantly, commanded a price that was more suited to the Maltese pocket.

Today, you’ll find a crib prominently displayed in the centre of most towns and cities, often with signs directing you to view it. You’ll also find them in shopping centres, retail parks and even in the airport. Every church makes a huge effort, which is not so surprising for a predominantly Catholic country, and if you walk through the back streets of any town or village - where the actual Maltese live, not the touristy places - you’ll often find a window of the house given over to the scene of the nativity. This is where you get the chance to show off to your neighbours as visiting cribs is a popular family past time over the holiday period.

So important is the crib to Maltese culture that there is even a national competition with seven categories such as small, medium, large static, large mechanical, original, and then for the truly artistic, two categories for cribs with figurines under and over 20cm - but only if they’re made handmade locally ! Nothing is to be imported from another country, especially one that doesn’t even embrace Christianity! The competition cribs have to be made available for public viewing between set hours as defined by the organisers, who even go to the trouble to provide a QR Code so that you can visit them all and give your opinion. Last year, the first year the completion took place after a year or two away, because of the covid madness, saw seventy-seven entrants battle it out, with thirteen of them attending a masterclass and workshop on how to construct them correctly.

Creativity is key when it comes to designing a crib with much of the artistry following the style of the model railways that we know in the UK. Attention to detail is hugely important, as is scale but there’s no limit to the actual size that people will build them to, from a shoe box to an old style tv set, with the tube removed, of course, to doorways and whole garages. The more elaborate and artistic the better. Some even have figurines that move, doors that open and close, streams with running water, lights that show the way to the manger and the sounds of cattle lowing. The attention to detail is truly amazing and the entrants take months to get everything looking so realistic.

In recent years, the Maltese have started to add the odd twist to the nativity and include characters not exactly befitting of the events two thousand years ago. Diego Maradona, Silvio Berlusconi, and Spider-Man to name but a few have made cameo appearances in some scenes, in a desire to keep them ‘relevant’ and ‘fun’. The craftsmen don’t make it obvious that they are there, and you have to pay very close attention to find them. There is an unofficial rule though, that says that any ‘alternative inclusions’ mustn’t distract from the story of the nativity itself, or cause offence.

It's Malta’s little sister, the island of Gozo, that has taken the idea of a crib to a whole new level though. Every year since 2008 (Covid aside), Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem sees 20,000 sq. metres of fields turned into a ‘Presepju Haj’ - a real, live nativity scene, where more than one hundred actors and animals, play out the entire story of the nativity.

The constructed set starts at a bakery, quite apt as Bethlehem means ‘House of Bread’, then moves on to the blacksmiths, carpenters’ workshop, with tradespeople working away and a market where you can buy their hand made goods, and there is of course, an inn - where there are still no rooms available - but does actually serve food and drink ! As you walk through the village you’ll see families in their homes, living as they would have done 2000 years ago, across the field’s you can see shepherds tending their flocks and if you time it right, you’ll see a Roman Garrison patrolling the streets, collecting taxes and carrying out the census by order of the emperor.

All of this leads of course, to the ‘main attraction,’ the stable (which looks more like a grotto) where a poor couple tend to the newly born baby Jesus - there is even a donkey and cow nearby to complete the scene. There really is nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world and it’s well worth the visit.

Oh, one last thing, if you were wondering… If the Maltese weren’t really that big on Christmas trees, where did they put their Christmas presents? Well, this is the other reason for having a crib inside the home. The presents were all placed under the baby Jesus - and surely there can’t be any safer place than that, can there !