As is customery for us, yesterday evening Christine & I together with friends (like many others) went to watch the Good Friday pageant. This year we chose Rabat because it has been some time since we've been there last. I have to say it is not one of the best we have seen recently. Altogether 11 pageants take place simultaneously in various areas of Malta and another 3 in Gozo; another 2 take place in Malta on Palm Sunday and I think another 1 in Gozo. The Pageants try to represent the Bible story from Adam & Eve up to the precursor of Jesus, St John Baptist and includes the Prophets and their sayings. Christ's sufferings are represented by statues, some carried by up to 10 or 12 bearers. Altogether a pageant may have up to 700 participants between the 'actors' and the statue bearers and this not counting those helpers behind the scenes. The whole pageant goes through the old part of the town/village and may take as long as 4 hours although. However, once the whole cortege passes from infront them, people start walking away and that would reduce the time to approx. 2 hours.
