Jum Ir-Repubblika: Here’s The Story Behind One Of The Most Important Dates In Maltese History
It might arrive in the last two weeks of the year, but Jum ir-Repubblika is a super important date in our history’s timeline. We got our first president, the Queen stopped being our head of state and we ceased being part of the British Empire.
It’s an annual celebration and public holiday, so every year we gather around and thank our forefathers for giving us an extra day where we can take a break off work.
So what basically happened here is that after the French left, we became part of the British Empire. These guys really helped us flourish during the years they stayed here, but that relationship had to come to an end.
By the time the 60s rolled around, we were totally ready to jump out of our nest and explore stuff on our own. This led to a bit of a tough journey for us as a country, where we had to fight our way to get to Jum ir-Repubblika.
You can read about those hardships here and here if you’re interested.
After getting our independence from the British Empire in 1964, the Queen was still considered the Head of State on our island. So what republic day means is that she basically stopped being our head of state, marking complete independence so to speak.
This happened a decade later, in 1974.
Jum ir-Repubblika also marked our first drastic constitutional change, and we got our first ever Maltese president, Sir Anthony Mamo. Yay.
This super well-dressed guy
This guy, apart from being our first Maltese President, was also our last Governor General before we became a republic. He was a law graduate and later on joined the civil service, where he served as Crown Council in 1942, until he later became an attorney general.
He was never really involved in local politics until he was appointed as Chief Justice in 1957, which he served as until the early 70s. After that, he was appointed as our island’s first Maltese Governor General, which is a pretty huge honour.
After that, he was appointed as our first Maltese president, where he spent two years in office.
In order for the island to get to Jum ir-Repubblika, it had to go through some pretty tough hardships. Although this day is generally spent placing wreaths on statues and shooting fireworks in Valletta, it’s pretty cool to appreciate what our forefathers did for us.
Thanks for the holiday!