The Maltese Crib

Gorg Mifsud-Chircop describes the presepju:

Tiny Malta has its own way of presenting the crib, in Maltese “il-presepju’’. There are two kinds of cribs: "il-grotta" (lit. the cave), a small children’s crib (with very small statues), and “il-presepju" proper, a large elaborate crib found in churches, homes, hospitals, youth centres, etc. There are various actors in the crib, falling under two group types: one, biblical universal actors including Our Lady, Baby Jesus, St Joseph, angels with/without musical instruments, the three kings, a beast of burden, normally a donkey, and a cow; and the other actors dressed in Maltese popular style of dress and representing traditional crafts and pastimes and scenes depicting everyday life in Malta and/or Gozo, such as musicians (e.g. “taz-zaqq" (the bagpipe player), “tat-tanbur’’ (the hand drummer) and “taz-zavzava" or “tar-rabbaba" (the friction drum player), “l-ghannejja" or “ix-xrik" (lit. the two partners in folk singing, or, impromptu singers), weavers, farmers, fishermen, fishmongers, bakers, hunters, “ix-xabbatur" (lit. the climber), “l-ghageb" or “l-imghaggeb" (lit. the simple man full of wonder), and “ir-rieqed" (lit. the sleeper). As in the various aspects of Maltese life and world-view variations dominate Maltese Christmas culture, explicitly to be discovered in the pasturi or Christmas statuettes.