If there’s one thing that dominates the Maltese skyline for most of the year, it’s fireworks. As polarising as they are, the lights and sounds created by fireworks are not only an unmistakeable part of Malta’s festas; for many, they’re essential. In a short video uploaded to Facebook this week, one of the local industry’s veterans opened up about his trade, and what the lifestyle means to him.

The video comes courtesy of Tentufiet, a daily cultural TV programme on NET. 

Feliċ Zerafa, known as Ta’ Ċens, is somewhat of a legend when it comes to fireworks. And it’s not only in Qrendi, where he works as a licensee with the Santa Marija Fireworks Factory. In the short two minute video, Feliċ explains the process behind the niċċa, which consists of pieces of string and cotton which is then mixed in with powder and rubber. The result may look like a sludgy black paste, but is an essential part of what ends up being a beautifully coloured firework.

Feliċ recounts how he got involved in the fireworks industry as soon as he turned 18. “We all love the festa, the whole family” he said. 

The designing and construction of fireworks is not a simple hobby for people like Feliċ. “I open up shop in the dark and close in the dark,” he said. “I obviously go home, but I spend from morning to evening here. Because I take care of the others who work with me. I organise the work so that there’s always something to do.”

“There’s always a certain fear, because we know from experience that effects that this can have,” he concluded. “But at the end of the day, accidents related to fireworks are not the only thing that happen.”

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).