MALTA FIREWORK FESTIVAL 2018

WHAT: MALTA FIREWORK FESTIVAL 2018
WHY: FIREWORK COMPETITION
WHERE: GOZO, MARSAXLOKK AND VALETTA’S GRAND HARBOUR, MALTA
WHEN: 21ST – 30TH APRIL 2018
COST: FREE

This year marks the 17th edition of this fantastic International Firework competition and showcase event. There are three separate venues, taking into consideration the island’s complex layout, allowing all the residents to get along to one of the display night’s.

Fireworks have formed a major part of all local festivals and fireworks have been at the very heart of the Maltese culture for centuries. The event is organised today by the Ministry for Tourism on the island and over the years has come to include professional teams from all over the world including Canada and most of the countries across Europe at one time or another.

Although for the most part, this is an excellent opportunity for the companies taking part to show off their wares, there are some international companies creeping into the mix over the last couple of years.

The very capable Pyrotex Fireworx coming off a bunch of back to back international awards took part here in 2014 and were lucky enough to pick up the silverware. Last year, the overall winner of the event was Pyro Italy and they were up against the local teams as well as representatives from the Czech Republic, Romania and Croatia. They were judged on:

SITE INSPECTION
SYNCHRONISATION
CHOICE OF MUSIC
COLOURS
EFFECTS AND SOUNDS
ORIGINALITY
QUALITY OF THE SHELLS
ARTISTIC IMPRESSION
OVERALL IMPRESSION

Whilst most of the teams were very close across the synchronicity and the effects and sounds, the music selection and their overall untidiness, in particular, lost the Croatian and Romanian teams a number of crucial points and when it comes down to 3 points between winning and losing, they really need to clean their act up (no pun intended … honestly).

The beautiful island of Malta is a hugely popular tourist destination, playing host to around 1.2 million visitors annually, which is more than 3 times the population who call it home.

The island enjoys the highest average sunshine across the whole of Europe, but this offers up other issues including a lack of water through the summer months.
Malta has been inhabited for over 7200 years and the original settlers built huge temples and areas for worship which remain today and are acknowledged as some of the oldest free-standing structures in the World.

The most famous of the residents historically are the Knights of Malta who started out as a group of monks tasked with taking care of the sick and needy in Jerusalem. Over the years, they became an army of men, usually from wealthy noble families, who defended the Holy Land and brought with them the financial support they had been afforded all their lives. In 1530, they arrived and settled in Malta, staying for almost 270 years before the order collapsed in 1801. That was the end of their occupation of Malta but they re-established themselves in the early 19th century. Today, the order is still huge and has members totalling in the tens of thousands, all of whom swear a Christian oath of allegiance to uphold their charitable works and many of them are still in the medical profession, harking back to the original order’s ethos.

Fireworks were initially used in military applications and over time, were used for feast days (Festi in Malta) and for visiting dignitaries where their arrival was met with ‘Feu de Joie’ which translate as fire of joy which was originally musket shots fired in quick succession which later became the Musketterija which are lots of firecrackers strung together. The Maltese also have their own way of producing firework shells which are known as Petards which are cylindrical shells perfected to a fine art. Simply amazing. Check out these multi-effect/multicoloured Maltese shells;

There are 35 firework factories in Malta, which is sizable until you take into consideration that there are 70 plus feast days annually including one for each of the three patron saints.

This year’s line-up has not yet been announced but we will bring this to you before the event is due to take place.