Whopping €46,000 raised in Mgarr auction to carry Virgin Mary statue

Aug 22 2022

The Mġarr tradition of publicly auctioning the rights to lift and carry the statue of the Virgin Mary during the village feast reached a whopping €46,000 yesterday.

The auction has entered its 100th year, with two men representing two community groups participating in the auction in front of a massive audience.

Mġarr parish priest Fr George Schembri moderated the auction as the two groups continued raising up the stakes. The back and forth lasted around two minutes but racked up the massive monetary amount.

The group who won the rights was represented by deputy mayor Wistin Vella as the amount reached record levels. This smashed 2019’s record of €17,000, which was the last time the auction was held before the pandemic hit.

Fr Schembri informed Newsbook that the money will go to the church and will be mainly spent on community projects and charities. Meanwhile, TVM was informed by historian Mario Vassallo that the tradition has roots during the construction of the Mgarr parish church.

The community desired a statue of the Virgin Mary, but the parish priest insisted that funds be used to build the church. The community raised enough money to buy the statue without using Church funds.

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Photo Source: Talk.mt

Sleeping in separate bedrooms might be secret to happy couples

Aug 22 2022

Very often, having couples sleeping in different beds is perceived as there being trouble in romantic paradise. However, experts are suggesting the opposite could be the case.

Many couples, around 1 in 4, actually admit to sleeping in separate bedrooms and report a much healthier relationship. Sleep expert Wendy Troxel said that perhaps this is because there is a discrepancy between what objective measures show and the subject experience of sleep quality.

Whereas some people like sleeping in a bed shared with someone else, maybe due to a sense of safety and connection, many end up getting bad sleep due to someone tossing and turning next to them.

This means that the psychological benefits of sharing a bed no longer override the minor objective costs of getting bad sleep.

We spend around a third of our lives asleep. Insufficient sleep can lead to conflict and less empathetic. ‘Just because you’re married or partnered to someone doesn’t mean your sleeping habits should be perfectly aligned’ said Troxel.

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WATCH: Birkirkara women’s football team make history in UEFA

Aug 22 2022

Birkirkara have just made history in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, containing a recent streaks of successes for the local football teams.

Two goals in the second half, one by Raina Giusti and another by Charlene Zammit, gave Birkirkara a lead over the singular score by Glentoran as Malta got its first win in the competition.

The team was coached by Jose Borg in his first coaching experience in the Women’s Champions League. He expressed confidence prior the game, despite the defeat at the hands of SFK Sarajevo on Thursday.

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Placing third, Borg informed Times of Malta, would show that the team could compete on this stage despite the limited resources.

Suffering a 4-0 defat against the Bosnia-Herezegovina champions, the Birkirkara starlets contended for third place with Glentoran. The latter are nine-time Northern Ireland champions.

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24 people facing deportation after being arrested for living illegally in Gozo

Aug 22 2022

Following a number of inspections in Gozo from the Malta Police Force’s Immigration Section, a number of individuals have been arrested and are facing deportation.

During the inspection, the police discovered and arrested 24 individuals from different countries who were residing in a number of properties in Sannat and Marsalforn.

The individuals were reportedly living in Malta illegally and were thus taken to the Police Force’s General Headquarters in Floriana to begin the process for deportation. The Police were assisted by Malta’s detention services while further investigations are currently underway.

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Meanwhile, a number of politicians have been outspoken on such a topic, with the Nationalist Party’s spokesperson for Gozo Alex Borg posting multiple entries discussing such issues. Following the Hamrun altercation last week, Borg suggested that “whoever doesn’t have respect for the Republic of Malta has no place here, whoever they are and wherever they may come from.”

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