Malta Carnival 2023: This Year’s Edition Is Bringing It All Back!
As the date for Carnival 2023 gets closer, the excitement for this year’s festival is rising. And rightly so! After two years of reduced editions, the Malta Carnival will be returning to its original format.
The Carnival is one of the oldest and largest festivals in Malta, deeply rooted in tradition and very unique. Particularly due to the traditions, spectacular trailers, and elaborate costumes, it attracts a lot of tourism during a usually quiet season.
This year the festival will run between the 17th and 21st February and has received significant investment.
Minister for National Heritage, Arts Owen Bonnici launched this year’s edition with a press conference stating its importance in the Maltese cultural calendar.
“This is not only said of words but also shown by the €1.2 million investment in tractors and trailers that we have just made to use by carnival in Malta,” he said.
The success of the carnival is credited to the artists who volunteer their talent and countless hours to this event that is so well loved by locals and tourists alike.
“The Malta Carnival level is already high but through the investments that Festivals Malta is making at this festival, persuading that we will continue to raise it.” said Malta Festivals Chairman Aaron Zahra. “After a two-year absence from being celebrated normally, the anticipation for this year’s Carnival is big, therefore I urge the public to eagerly attend the prepared activities” he said.
Carnival Artistic Director, Jason Busuttil, spoke about this year’s extensive program, a program that could not have been possible without the great dedication of anyone working on this festival from the scenes , especially participants who invest so much time in their creations. “Every year participants raise the level of trailers, dance and costumes they produce, but this year the level is impeccable, better than ever,” said Busuttil.
Annabelle Stivala, CEO of Festivals Malta said that the agency will continue to work towards developing with the times while keeping close to traditions.
This year’s carnival will be clean, sustainable and attach maximum importance to the health and safety of participants and the numerous audience who attend this festival.
This year Festivals Malta will be introducing new waste collection measures through dedicated containers at the Malta Carnival, as has already been done during the Notte Bianca. This initiative is being made to collect and separately separate the waste generated by the festival to make the festival more sustainable.
Visit festivals.mt for the full programme