The Maltese
V
Today, September 8, is
The Feast of Our Lady of Victories in Malta.
"The 8th of September festivity is close to Maltese hearts."
"The 8th September is a special public holiday because it commemorates in fact three events. It is the religious feast celebrating the birth of the Holy Virgin, Maria Bambina; it is the day on which the Great Siege of 1565 ended; and it also the day on which the Italian navy capitulated to the British at the beginning of the end of the Second World War.
But is it best known as victory day, il-Vitorja, in commemoration of the events of 1565 when the Knights of St John and the Maltese Islanders defeated the Ottoman Turks and helped rid Christendom of the Saracen threat.
The feast is celebrated in the villages and towns of Senglea, Naxxar, Mellieha and Xaghra on Gozo."
From Malta's Importance in History:
"Malta managed to keep the enemy at bay, and was awarded the George Cross for it in 1942. Churchill, Roosevelt, Eisenhower and other leaders visited Malta during this time. Malta was called 'the under-belly of Europe,' and her insidious disruption of the Kesserling-Rommel axis who tried hard, and very nearly successfully, to starve the native population and render all military operations impossible through the lack of food and fuel. The lifting of the siege coincided with the Feast of our Lady of Victory: 'il-Vitorja', the 'national' feast."
"From about three days before September 8, ground fireworks, Maltese 'giggifogu' (derived from Italian 'guochi di fuoco'), start to light up the Mellieha Parish Square, with amazing effects. The principal show of ground fireworks is held on September 7, a show which ends at about 12.00am.
Fireworks over Mellieha
The D-Day finally arrives. Early in the morning of September 8, many people attend the sermon in honor of Our Lady of Victories."
Today's feast is known to Roman Catholics as The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.
See also the novel by Thomas Pynchon, V.