About this festa

Cospicua, known in Maltese as Bormla, is one of the Three Cities that line the creeks of the Grand Harbour, sharing a peninsula with Vittoriosa and Senglea. The town suffered heavily in the Second World War bombing campaigns and much of what stands today was rebuilt in the postwar years. The Immaculate Conception is celebrated in December, one of the few winter festas on the calendar, giving Cospicua's celebrations a distinctive candlelit atmosphere in the narrow streets of one of Malta's most historically layered towns. The Immaculate Conception celebrates the belief that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. In Malta the December feast is a public holiday, and Cospicua's winter celebration has a particular intimacy, with the Grand Harbour creeks reflecting the church lights on the water below.