Jum il-Festa: Lyrics and Translation.

Here are the original lyrics for Jum Il-Festa in Maltese together with an English translation. The song is available on Soundcloud below:

JUM Il-FESTA : Lejla Maltija

Jum Il-festa qisha ġiet il-gwerra, bil-murtali u l-isparar,
Jum Il-festa qisha ġiet il-gwerra, toħrog il-banda bil-azzar.

Jum Il-festa kaxxa infernali, ġigġifogu u il-miġnuna
Jum Il-festa qisha żżanżnet il-libsa, u ż-żarbun bit-takkuna.

Dan huwa il-jum, illum il-jum tal-festa
Għarhom jiċċelebraw, illum il-jum tal-festa
Għarhom jixxalaw illum il-jum tal-festa.

IL-vara u il- pavaljuni,
It- tiżjin u is-sunetti u l-armar,
Imma Joey xorob iżżejjed,
Ma felaħx u baqa' id-dar.

Mario Cordina

The Day of the Feast (The Feast Day)

The day of the feast, it seems as if the war has come, with bombs and shooting.
The day of the feast, it seems that the war has come, the band comes out armed with brass.

On the day of the feast an infernal box, ground fireworks and the Mad Woman,
On the day of the feast she put on a brand new dress and shoes with heels.
(The infernal box, literally translated is the name given to the culmination of the popular fireworks show - normally a series of firecrackers going off in sequence. The Mad Woman is one of the names given to a specific type of ground fireworks. In previous times, the high heeled shoe was considered to be a luxury and only worn on very special occasions.) 

This is the day, the day of the feast,
Watch them celebrate, today the day of the feast,
Watch them party, today the day of the feast.
(The word jixxalaw comes from lunacy, crazy, wild - to party out of control.)

The statue and the pavilions,
The decorations and the rice paper and the 'armar'.
But poor Joey drank a little too much,
He did not feel up to it so he stayed at home.
(The decorations - Tiżjin: are normally very colorful with the flags of the city, Parish, Band Club or Saint - sometimes even the local football club. They are normally flags or cloth, paper, tinsel, lights etc, hanging from balconies, roofs or strung across the street. The 'Armar' is normally of a more sacred nature. This type of decoration features pedestals with statues and effigies of Saints and Angels. As far as drinking is concerned, the banda march through the streets normally takes from 9am to 3pm in the summer heat. So be warned!)

You can see all this for yourself on Youtube - The video features the events and goings on during the Festa.

Jum Il-Festa

Lejla Maltija has published it's new video for the track Jum il-Festa. The day of the feast. The summer months in Malta have traditionally been associated with Parish Church feasts. Apart from the religious celebrations including a grand mass and solemn procession with bearers carrying the life size effigy of the patron saint, the locals also set up colorful and less religious events during the week prior to the procession. The climax is when the local band clubs take to the streets and people join in to sing and dance and party. Fireworks are also part of the program me, including fireworks which are called gigifogu - basically cartwheels which are the pride of the local fireworks factories. There could be as much as five such festas in different parishes during one weekend. The video was taken during three such feasts : San Lawrenz in Birgu, San Gejtanu in Hamrun and Santa Maria in Mosta 2013.