Event – ‘Il-QARĊILLA’ at Fort St. Angelo

Heritage Malta will once again be treating its patrons to an original and unique Carnival event this year: Il-Qarċilla at Fort St. Angelo in collaboration with l-Akkademja tal-Malti, il-Kunsill tal-Ilsien Malti and the Carnival Commitee.

Il-qarċilla is a poetic farce in Maltese which up to a hundred years ago formed part of the Carnival celebrations held in Valletta and was also very popular in a number of villages. A man, acting as a notary, would in the presence of two youngsters, acting as husband and wife-to-be, read out a marital contract in verse filled with satirical innuendos and humour. The crowd would gather in the streets of Valletta to listen to the poem which, in some instances, could require an adult audience.

The first qarċilla on record was written for the 1760 carnival festivities by Cospicua poet Dun Feliċ Demarco.  Amongst the works of Demarco, one also finds Iż-Żwieġ la Maltija (Marriage the Maltese way) which is the only one of his works which survived till this day.

The Qarċilla will take place at Fort St. Angelo in Vittoriosa on Monday 8th February at 8pm. The programme includes a short talk by Olvin Vella about the linguistic value of the ancient qrieċel, a performance, light refreshments. The brand new Qarċilla is written by Imanuel Mifsud.

Tickets at €15 and €12 for Heritage Malta members, students and senior citizens can be purchased from all Heritage Malta sites and museums and ONLINE.

  — The event is open to an ADULT audience —