The seaside town of Birżebbuġa is on Thursday holding an annual tradition celebrating its patron saint, St Peter, a fisherman who became the first Bishop of Rome or Pope. 

The statue in front of the band club’s premises.

The tradition, unique to the locality, sees a statue of the saint placed on a fishing boat (lanċa) and taken on a pilgrimage across the sea from St George’s Bay to Pretty Bay, popularly known among locals as Ix-Xatt. 

Numerous sea vessels of all kinds follow the statue as it glides through the water.

Parishioners follow the spectacle from different vantage points along the coast to then gather at Pretty Bay where they welcomethe contingent to the tune of band marches.

Once ashore, the statue is carried around the town followed by band club musicians and revellers. It is then mounted on top of a pedestal in Pretty Bay, where it stays until the liturgical celebrations of St Peter in Chains come to an end on Sunday evening.

Members of the Soċjetà Filarmonika San Pietru Banda Birżebbuġa accompanying the statue of St Peter during the traditional sea pilgrimage. Photos courtesy of the Soċjetà Filarmonika San Pietru Banda Birżebbuġa.

“About 40 boats usually take part in the sea pilgrimage but they may number around 60 on special occasions such as anniversaries,” Alex Caruana, president of the Soċjetà Filarmonika San Pietru Banda Birżebbuġa, organisers of today’s event, said.

He explains that the sea pilgrimage was first held as a one-off event by the parish church in 1974 to welcome the titular statue after gilding works were carried out. In 1983, it was then decided that the sea pilgrimage should be held annually. 

The event eventually started being organised by the locality’s two band clubs. 

When Banda Birżebbuġa was founded in 1990, it ordered a statue of St Peter from renowned artist Alfred Camilleri Cauchi. 

The sculpture was inaugurated a year later and was carried in a sea pilgrimage for the first time on August 2, 1991. 

“That year, the event started off in Marsaxlokk,” Mr Caruana recalled. 

“We still leave from there on special occasions,” he added.

 This happened two years ago with the parish church’s titular statue, after it was restored by Aaron Camilleri Cauchi.

On June 29 of the same year, when the Catholic Church commemorated the 1,950th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Peter and St Paul, the band club’s statue made a trip to Rabat as the parish church is dedicated to St Paul.

Later on in the year, during the festa week, the band club took its statue on a carcade to Rabat once again, Safi and Valletta – all of which celebrate the feast of St Paul – before embarking on the annual sea pilgrimage.

Today’s event will start at St George’s Bay at 7.15pm to arrive at Pretty Bay about an hour later.

The town’s other band club, the Għaqda Mużikali San Pietru Fil-Ktajjen, will hold its own sea pilgrimage tomorrow.