About this festa

Żabbar is a town in the southeast of Malta with a deep and ancient devotion to Our Lady of Graces, whose shrine in the parish church has drawn pilgrims for centuries. The September festa is one of the most emotionally charged on the island, with ex-votos covering the walls of the sanctuary recording generations of prayers answered and dangers survived. The town has a proud and passionate festa culture, and the week of celebrations builds to a procession of extraordinary devotional intensity. Our Lady of Graces is a title given to the Virgin Mary as the channel of divine grace to humanity. The shrine in Żabbar has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries, with the church walls covered in ex-votos, small votive offerings recording prayers answered and dangers survived. The sheer number of these offerings makes the Żabbar shrine one of the most moving expressions of popular devotion in Malta.