About this festa

Xewkija is the oldest village in Gozo and home to one of the most remarkable churches in the Mediterranean: the Rotunda of St John the Baptist, whose dome is the third largest unsupported dome in the world, measuring 27 metres in diameter and 75 metres high. The entire structure was built by the parishioners using their own labour and donations, completed in 1978 after decades of work. The June festa is famous across Gozo for its exuberant street celebrations, including the legendary dancing under a giant decorated umbrella that has become one of the most distinctive images of the Gozitan festa tradition. St John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus, born to Elizabeth and Zechariah six months before Jesus. He prepared the way for Christ by preaching repentance in the Jordanian desert and baptising Jesus in the River Jordan. He was beheaded by Herod Antipas at the request of Salome and is venerated as the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets. The Knights of St John, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798, took John the Baptist as their patron, giving his feast particular historical resonance in Malta.