The Easter Celebrations in Malta start a week before Easter on Palm Sunday, with processions around various parishes remembering the triumphal entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem. The following week is referred to as the Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday it’s a custom that Maltese visit churches and Last Supper displays. Good Friday, the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, is one of the most important religious holidays in Malta observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. Good Friday is a Holy Day for Catholics, where Christians fast and make sacrifices.
On Good Friday at 3pm, the time when Jesus died, a special mass is celebrated in churches around the Maltese islands. During the afternoon, one 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 one can see men in penitence bearing a cross and dragging chains tied to their bare feet, as an act of penitence.
Image provided by the Malta Tourism Authority.