Mnarja Through the Decades: Rare Photos Capture Malta's Beloved Summer Feast 60 Years Ago

A collection of photographs taken around 60 years ago have resurfaced offering a nostalgic glimpse into how one of Malta's oldest and most cherished traditional feasts, L-Imnarja, was celebrated during the mid-1960s.

Captured by photographer Guido Stilon (1932–1975), the images showcase the iconic horse races held beneath Saqqajja Hill in Rabat, an enduring tradition that attracted large crowds every 29 June as part of the Feast of St Peter and St Paul.

While L-Imnarja remains a public holiday and an important religious feast in honour of St Peter and St Paul, the celebrations have evolved considerably over the decades. Sixty years ago, the event was deeply rooted in Malta's rural way of life, with agriculture, livestock, and local traditions taking centre stage.

The horse and donkey races at Saqqajja were among the feast's biggest attractions, with riders racing through the steep streets below Rabat in a spectacle that has become synonymous with the occasion. Families from across Malta would also gather at Buskett Gardens on the eve of the feast to enjoy picnics, traditional rabbit dishes known as fenkata, and performances of għana, Malta's distinctive style of folk singing.

Today, many of these customs continue, although the festivities have adapted to modern times. Buskett remains the heart of the celebrations, hosting cultural performances, agricultural exhibitions, food stalls, and family-friendly activities alongside the traditional religious observances. The horse races continue to draw spectators, preserving one of the feast's most recognisable traditions.

Believed to derive its name from the Latin word luminaria, meaning illumination, L-Imnarja is one of Malta's oldest surviving festivals, blending religious devotion with centuries-old rural customs. The photographs serve as a reminder of how the feast has changed over the past six decades while retaining the traditions that continue to make it one of the highlights of the Maltese summer.

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