Good Friday Processions

Attend one of the Good Friday processions around Malta

Good Friday and Easter are two of the most important religious dates in the Christian calender, and in Malta, they are celebrated in a liturgical and ceremonially prominent manner. In fact, celebrations start a week before Easter - exactly on Palm Sunday, with processions around various Parishes remembering the triumphal entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem. 

During the evening of Maundy Thursday and the morning of Good Friday, churches cover their walls in purple or black drapes, while the Maltese community go out to pray in seven different churches.

During the afternoon of Good Friday, you can attend one of the Good Friday processions held in different towns and villages. This is a very solemn procession of statues, each of which represents a particular episode in the Passion of the Christ, carried by the devout public. Between one statue and another there are biblical characters represented by people wearing epic costumes. Also, in many processions you can see men in penitence bearing a cross and dragging chains tied to their bare feet, as an act of penitence.

These processions are held in Malta at: Rabat, Valletta, Birgu, Bormla, Isla, Zejtun, Haz-Zebbug, Naxxar, Qormi, Gharghur, Mosta, Luqa, Ghaxaq and Paola, while in Gozo they're held at Rabat, Xewkija, Nadur, Xaghra, Zebbug and Qala.