Catholics in Malta mark Good Friday with wooden clappers, processions and Apostles' rings

Catholics in Malta are celebrating Good Friday just a few days ahead of Christianity's most important celebration; Easter Sunday.

Good Friday processions are a staple tradition in Maltese culture, marking the end of the 40-day Lenten period leading up to Easter Sunday.

The Good Friday tradition dates to medieval times, with Christian devotees flooding to village squares around Malta and Gozo to experience the processions.

No mass is celebrated on Good Friday, which is a day of mourning in the Catholic tradition, and church bells will not ring, replaced instead by the traditional wooden clappers (ċuqlajta).

Archbishop Charles Scicluna will be leading the liturgy of the Lord’s passion at St John’s Co-Cathedral in the afternoon. The adoration of the cross is held in parishes and starts at 3:00pm, around the time of Jesus’s death on the cross.

The processions also include a set of statues depicting the Passion of Christ.

Men, women, and children dressed up as biblical characters usually feature in the procession, while band players lead the way. Some would walk barefoot in the streets with chains tied to their ankles or dragging large wooden crosses.

Notable processions, which attract hundreds of participants, including children, are held in Bormla, Isla, Birgu, Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Rabat, Qormi, Żejtun, Mosta and Naxxar.

The day is also marked by street vendors selling the traditional Qagħaq tal-Appostli (Apostles’ ring bread), a loaf of soft bread with a crunchy exterior adorned with almonds and sesame seeds that is baked specifically for the Lenten period.