Devotional processions have been recorded in Malta since time immemorial – in various shapes and forms, like those in which only the clergy and members of pious congregations took part behind their proud banners, or those in which the lay faithful and musical bands joined the moving cortège.

A procession of the Confraternity of the Rosarianti on the occasion of the execution of Giuseppe Tabone in 1923.

Some marked recurring events, like village festas of patron saints, others took place on extraordinary occasions, like thanksgiving for the end of a calamity, be it war or pestilence, or invocations of divine compassion in droughts, famine or a siege.

Part of the Good Friday Valletta procession, early 1920s.

A 1920s procession turning from St John’s to Merchants Street.

The latter also went by the name of pilgrimages. The Maltese name for a portable statue seems a giveaway of the Sicilian origin of the processional devotion. We call it vara, corrupting Sicilian bara/vara, a sarcophagus.

The Kristu Re procession passing the Opera House in the 1930s.

The statue of the risen Christ carried in triumph in Easter – the Rxoxt – almost invariably shows Jesus emerging from a coffin, a bara, hence why all portable statues, in Maltese, became known as vara.

Good Friday procession in the parish of St George, Qormi.

The Easter 'Rxoxt' procession speeding uphill in Valletta, early 1920s.

Pre-war postcard publishers relished religious functions, not least, processions. I had to choose randomly from, literally, many hundreds.

An early 1920s procession in which a contingent of Boy Scouts took part.

The procession held when Our Lady of Damascus was crowned in 1931.

Earlier ones concentrate of devotional aspects, not neglecting the high visual impact of luxuriant piety – see the monsignors wearing their high mitres and their impressive capes hand-embroidered with gold thread in elegant high-relief baroque patterns.

The procession held in Sliema in 1934 when Don Bosco was proclaimed saint. Postcard by Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar.

A World War I image by John Critien of the Corpus Christi procession passing through Strada Reale.

Some processions, mostly the Good Friday devotions, gradually morphed into historical pageantry, starting in Qormi.

In the 1913 International Eucharistic Congress, the canopy was held high by prominent Maltese gentlemen.

Some postcards recorded truly extraordinary events, like the children’s procession during the 1913 International Eucharistic Congress, in which an estimated 12,000 young boys and girls took part. Compare this to the boutique Christmas processions of little children carrying Baby Jesus in a crib and singing carols, a MUSEUM initiative by Dun, later Saint, Ġorġ Preca.

All images from the author’s collections.

Children carrying Baby Jesus in the Christmas procession held by the Żabbar MUSEUM.