A reminder that starting next Friday in Gozo, there will be 3 days of music, dance, costumes… with the return of the Qala International Folk Festival – 10th edition, organised by the Qala Local Council and the Qala Menhir Folk Group.

Taking place between Friday, the 18th and Sunday, the 20th of September, the picturesque village of Qala, will be transformed by this annual festival into a hub of meticulously organised folk activities that give an insight into the way our ancestors thought and lived in these islands and in other countries.

A weekend of folk dance, music and traditional food in the quaint village square brought to life by an intercultural programme that has grown to attract locals and visitors for its quality entertainment. Guest foreign folk groups also participate during the days of the festival, including Siekieracy from Poland and Gruppo Folkloristico di Acquaviva delle Fonti, from Puglia, Italy.

The festival, one of the most popular events in the Gozo cultural calendar, always attracts large crowds of visitors, not only locals, but Maltese, foreign residents and tourists, who will be able to live a few days in the past, savouring the unique atmosphere which is vividly created by the detailed reenactment in dazzling costumes, of a traditional Maltese Wedding and feast.

The traditional Maltese Wedding transforms Qala’s main street and squares into a medieval village with scores of men, women and children wearing elaborate costumes, horses drawing carts, shepherds tending sheep, women working lace and children playing traditional games.

The ceremony starts with the wooing in Bishop Buttigieg Square, opposite the Qala Local Council’s offices and then the procession proceeds to St. Joseph Square. On lookers join in to feel part of the proceeding.

Everyone then makes their way to the church Square and the wedding vows are taken on the church Purvis. A ‘festin’ with traditional delicacies brings the ceremony to an end.

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