A lecture, oganised by the Malta Historical Society, is to be held on ‘The development of the iconography of the Holy Week processional statues in Malta and Gozo,’ by Dr Josep F Grima.

Presently, in Malta and Gozo, there are no less than 191 statues, or vari, that are carried in Good Friday processions representing 22 different episodes from the Passion of Christ. In 1960, there were only 9 episodes represented, thus amply denoting the great number of episodes (and statues) that have seen the light of day during the last half century or so.

It is natural that the iconography of the statues developed greatly during these years, so the lecture will first note and describe the rather slow development of statue iconography till 1960 and then move on to concentrate on the very numerous developments that took place throughout Malta and Gozo from 1961 till the present day.

Holy Week also includes Easter Sunday. From the relatively small number of 8 Easter processions till 1973, their number has progressively increased to 23. Each procession includes a statue of the Risen Christ and here one also notes a development in the iconography of these vari, as they are known locally. Therefore, the lecture will end with a short presentation on Easter Sunday processional statues.

Dr Joseph F. Grima PhD, MA, BA(Hons), Dip Educ (Admin & Mngt), MIM is a History graduate from the University of Malta and a former Head of School and Assistant Director of Education. On a part-time basis, he lectures mainly on the Organisation of the Fleet of the Order of St John and is the author of a number of books pertaining to the History of the Order of St John in Malta, the French in Malta, Printing and Censorship in Malta till 1839, the Architectural Legacy of the Order of St John in Malta, and the Historic Chapels of the Maltese Islands together with four books about his native village, Qormi.

One of Dr Grima’s pet subjects is the development of Holy Week processions in the Maltese Islands and together with numerous (mostly annotated) articles on the subject, he has published Holy Week Processions at St George’s Parish, Qormi in 2003 and Il-Vari tal-Gimgha Mqaddsa fil-Gzejjer Maltin in 2012. He has been the Hon Secretary of the Qormi Good Friday Committee since its inception in 1979.

Dr Grima was the Hon Secretary of the Malta Historical Society from December 1978 till June 2011.

The lecture is taking place at the National Archives of Malta, Santo Spirito, Rabat, on Thursday, the 21st of March 2013 at 6pm

For more details please see www.maltahistory.eu or email on mhs@melita.com.

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