Took this pic some weeks ago and decided to leave it for today because today is a national holiday – l-Imnarja. It is a feast of culture and folklore which goes back to hundreds and hundreds of years. This flag is flown on the roof of the L’Isle Adam Band club. The steeple belongs to the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin of Jesus. I have chosen this flag in view that Grandmaster l’Isle Adam has great connections with Rabat and Maltese folklore.
L-Imnarja (a corruption of the Italian word ‘luminaria’ meaning illuminations) is linked to the Island’s devotion to St Paul, who according to the Acts of the Apostles was shipwrecked on the Maltese coast. In fact up until the 17th century, this feast was celebrated by the locals with a pilgrimage to the Crypt which lies underneath the Parish Church of Rabat. Many historians also tend to link this feast to harvests and farming - the majority of Maltese during the 16th, 17th and 18th century were farmers, and Rabat is the hub of farming activities in the Island. Many Maltese used to flock to Rabat on the eve of the feast, on foot or using horse and mule driven carts. Many still do today but in motor vehicles instead of mules and carts.
Philipe Villiers de l’Isle Adam (French) was the Grandmaster of the Order of St John who on 26th October, 1530 took possession of the Maltese Islands which were granted to the Order by the King of Aragon and Sicily who ruled over Malta at the time. L’Isle Adam and the Order had been expelled by the Ottomans (Turks) in 1522 after a long blockade. L’Isle Adam died in Rabat in 1534.
