The quaint village of Żurrieq turned into a flurry of colours yesterday, covered with 711 flags – a new national record.

On the initiative of the Żurrieq local council, residents hoisted their favourite flags as the village tried to break the record.

The feat was certified by The Malta Records, an organisation that is only 10 months old but has already acknowledged more than 120 new national records. It took two hours to count all the flags.

Antoine Cefai, from The Malta Records, confirmed that Żurrieq was yesterday declared the holder of the new record, the first of its kind in Malta.

He said it took eight teams of judges to cover all the streets throughout the whole village, which was split into eight sections.

The judges walked through every road to count each flag and ensure that the flagpole it was on was more than 20 feet long to qualify.

In all, the judges counted 711 flags of every size and colour.

Żurrieq is one of those villages which has two feasts: St Catherine and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The rivalry between the two groups belonging to the different churches is expressed through the size and quantity of their flags, sources said.

The council chose yesterday as it was a date that falls between the two feasts and asked residents to unite for this record-setting attempt.

On Wednesday evening, The Malta Records awarded another national record in Mqabba, where nearly 1,450 petards were shot off a vertical structure 45.96 metres long in the largest national vertical fireworks display.