Pillar 03 · Festa & Traditions

When is the Żejtun Festa? The Annual Date Explained

Żejtun’s festa for St Catherine of Alexandria falls on the third Sunday of June each year, with the run-up beginning the previous Sunday. This page is the annually-updated reference.

This is a stub — a short, factual page that we update each year as the parish publishes the official programme.

The dates and the logic

St Catherine’s calendar feast day is 25 November, but in the Maltese tradition the parish festa is celebrated in summer when the weather suits the outdoor liturgies, the long band marches, and the procession of the titular statue. The Żejtun parish has fixed its festa on the third Sunday of June, with the formal week beginning the Sunday before. The November feast day is still observed in the parish church with mass, but quietly and indoors.

The two key days to plan around: the Friday-evening band march, which is the most local and atmospheric night of the week; and the Sunday of the procession, which is the feast day proper. [LOCAL FACT — Mattew to add this year’s exact dates and any deviation, e.g. when the third Sunday clashes with another national event.]

Why the date is fixed in summer

The third Sunday of June is settled enough that you can plan a year ahead with confidence. The reason it falls when it does, rather than on St Catherine’s calendar feast day in November, is partly weather and partly tradition: the outdoor liturgies, the long band marches, and the procession all depend on dry warm evenings, and the Maltese parish calendar long ago shifted most of its principal feasts to the summer months for that reason. The November feast day is still observed, quietly, in the parish church; if you want a low-key, indoors version of the feast, that’s the one to come for.

What this article will cover

  • This year’s dates, day by day
  • Next year’s dates, with caveats
  • How the date is set and what could shift it
  • The November observance — what happens, what doesn’t
  • How festa dates compare with neighbouring parishes
  • How to book travel and accommodation around the right dates

Read more on this pillar

Part of our Festa & Traditions pillar. Pair with the day-by-day programme, the band clubs, and festa etiquette for visitors.

Mattew Cassar

Resident · Writer

Mattew writes zejtun.com from a flat above his grandfather’s old workshop on Triq San Girgor. He has lived in Żejtun for twenty-three of his thirty-one years.