Malta has fourteen public holidays. Nine are religious feasts.
The other five are national days, each marking a point in the country’s history. Two of the five fall in September, three weeks apart.
The five national days
- Freedom Day — 31 March
- Sette Giugno — 7 June
- Victory Day — 8 September
- Independence Day — 21 September
- Republic Day — 13 December
Independence came in three steps
Three of the five mark the same long process.
Malta became independent from Britain on 21 September 1964, but kept the Queen as head of state.
It became a republic on 13 December 1974. The last British forces left on 31 March 1979.
Each stage got its own holiday. A country this size ended up with three separate national days covering fifteen years of constitutional change.
Sette Giugno is the oldest
On 7 June 1919 there were riots in Valletta over the price of bread and the cost of living.
British troops fired on the crowd and four Maltese men were killed.
The day is named after the date and is treated as the start of the political movement that led to 1964.
A monument to the four stands in St George’s Square in Valletta, outside the Grandmaster’s Palace.
Victory Day covers two wars
8 September marks the end of the Great Siege of 1565 and the surrender of Italy in 1943, nearly four hundred years apart.
It is also the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, so four villages hold their festa the same day.
The Grand Harbour regatta runs on it, with rowing crews from the harbour towns racing off the Valletta waterfront.
It is the busiest single day in the harbour after 15 August, and the best free spectacle of the year.
Freedom Day and Republic Day
Freedom Day on 31 March is marked at the Freedom Monument in Birgu, on the spot where the last troops embarked.
Republic Day on 13 December is the quietest of the five, falling in the middle of winter.
Neither draws crowds the way the September dates do.
What it means for a trip
On all five, banks, government offices and most shops close, and buses drop to a Sunday timetable.
Restaurants in the tourist areas carry on. Museums usually open. The detail is in what is open on a Sunday.
If you are in Malta in September, the 8th and the 21st are the two dates to plan around.
