Memories of my Xlendi
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When Xlendi was a place of tamarisk trees and spring water
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The Catholic Church today celebrates the feast of St George of Lydda – present Lod – a city southeast of Tel Aviv in the central district of Israel. It is chronicled that St George died on April 23, 303.
Stone sculpture of St George, perched on a garden wall in Sannat Road.
Devotion to the saint is worldwide but especially in the Holy Land, where the feast is celebrated in Palestine on May 6, according to the older calendar used by the Eastern Churches.
Devotion in Victoria
In Victoria, where I was brought up, I had to be especially devoted either to the parish of St George or to that of St Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. Gozo’s capital has always been patronised by ‘Ta’ l-Istilla’ (associated with St George’s parish) or ‘Ta’ l-Iljun’ (associated with St Mary’s parish).
Ix-Xirka
Ħamis
ix-Xirka’ – ‘Community Thursday’, inferring the Thursday when the apostles and Jesus Christ met for the Last Supper.
It is ‘holy’ – ‘
santo’ – because, on this day, Jesus established the Holy Eucharist: he blessed the bread and wine and asked his friends to eat and drink with him. Moreover, he invited them to keep repeating the occasion in memory of him.
The altar of repose at St George’s Basilica, Victoria. Photo: Joe Zammit Ciantar
In English, this special Thursday in the middle of the Holy Week is also referred to as ‘Maundy Thursday’, which may be more appropriate. The word ‘maundy’ is derived from an Anglo-French word derived from Latin ‘