The 800th anniversary of the first live re-enactment of the Nativity scene by St Francis of Assisi is reflected on the front cover of the December edition (no. 1,053) of the Gozitan magazine Il-Ħajja f’Għawdex.
This edition also marks other anniversaries: the 175th anniversary of the statue of the Immaculate Conception in Victoria and the centenary of the venerated painting of Our Lady of Salus Infirmorum (good health) in Qala.
The magazine includes an interview with mouth painter Francis Camilleri and a piece on anti-Italian propaganda by war history expert Charles Bezzina, while Joe Schirò concludes his series on Gozitan maps.
As with every last edition of the year, the December edition includes a general index of all the material published throughout 2023, thereby helping to build the magazine into an illustrated encyclopedia of the island.
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