Historic falcon ceremony enacted once more in Vittoriosa
Malta Independent Online
5 September 2005
Vittoriosa was awash with colour yesterday, as a ceremony which used to take place every year in the long-gone past, was enacted with the presentation of a Maltese falcon to the Kingdom of Spain.
The Spanish King did not attend in person, but 27 nobles and businessmen attended on his behalf. Vittoriosa looked truly splendid for the occasion – which was organised by the Foreign Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority’s re-enactment group In Guardia.
Hundreds of people, locals and tourists alike – some Spanish, others British and even Italians – flocked to the main square armed with their digital cameras and cam-corders to capture the action.
The elaborate and colourful ceremony commemorated the 475th anniversary of the cession of the island of Malta to the Knights of St John by Emperor Charles V on 24 March 1530
The Maltese falcon, on which the famous Humphrey Bogart film was based, is the bird which the Knights and the people of Malta sent every year to the Holy Roman Emperor and his descendants, the Kings of Spain, as a sign of their continuing fealty. The Maltese were subjects of Spain before the Knights came and continued being so even under the Knights.
A 27-strong delegation of Spanish nobles and businessmen arrived for yesterday’s occasion. It included Don Antonio de Castro y Garcia de Tejada, the Chief Falconer of the Kingdom of Spain, Archduke of Austria Andres Salvador de Habsburgo, the Protector of the Spanish Guild of Falconers and King Juan Carlos’s personal ADC, Lt Col Don Ignacio de Inza y Munoz. The delegation, in full period costume, were met at Couvre Porte and walked in procession to St Lawrence Church, where a solemn Thanksgiving Mass was celebrated and the falcon was blessed.
The town crier read out a decree, then a Maltese actor, representing Grand Master L’Isle Adam, handed over the falcon to the Spanish Chief Falconer. A musket salute was fired off and the contingents then went down to the waterfront where some of the guests and visitors left in dghajjes.
Today, the guests will visit the National Library in Valletta where they will be shown the authenticated copy of the original Charles V document ceding Malta to the Order of St John, including the annual donation of a Maltese falcon as proof of the Maltese people’s continuing loyalty to the Spanish Crown.
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