Gozo is an island for a quiet holiday and offers ample facilities for walking, sightseeing, swimming, sunbathing and diving. It’s an island surrounded with small golden sand and pebbly beaches, full of colours, azure blue of the sea, golden yellow of the limestone cliffs, which during these months of winter are full of green patches.

Gozo, as a tourist, resort attracts thousands of tourists each year. Because of its beauty some of these tourists decide to invest money on property and make it as their second home. Albert Moses, an actor, writer, producer and director, born in Sri Lanka and living in England, is one of these tourists.

The first time I met Albert was in 1995 when he walked into my little shop in Victoria. One day he came to see me at work, at the Identity Card Office, smiling with one of his water colour painting in his hands. Joking, I asked him weather he is going to handle it to the office. The answer was yes, and he made his presentation. Now it has been there for 10 years.

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The Malta Post on January 19th issued a set of four stamps featuring old maps of Malta and Gozo.(to view the four stamps Please Click Here ).These stamps was designed by Alfred Caruana Ruggier shows the Quintinus map, Melita Insula, La Venuta dell’Armata Turchesca a di 18 Maggio 1565 and Cartae Veduta dell’Isola del Gozo e Comino This stamps faces value of 1c, 12c, 37c, and £m1.02 The £m1.02 stamp represent a map of the island of Gozo, with Comino, Cominotto and the Marfa peninsula on Malta (courtesy, National Library, Malta). It is a pen drawing made by Padre Luigi Bartolo 9C. 1681-1753, a Maltese capuchin scholar. He was described as an eminent preacher, philosopher, theologian, historian, mathematician, architect and geographer. Apart from this map, he designed a detailed map of the Maltese archipelago and various prospective views of Valletta but their whereabouts are unknown. Bartolo's ’ap of Gozo is entitled; Carta eveduta dell' Isola del Gozo e Comino and measures 245 x 387 mm. It was supplemented by another drawing Prospettiva Del G. Castello Del Gozo. The map, like the view, is signed Fr. Aloysius Melita, Conc[ionat]or Capuccinus, invent[it] it delineavit. Both were probably commissioned by the Gozitan scholar Gianpiero Francesco Agius de Soldanis (1712-1770) as they form part of his manuscript opus Gozo Antico-Moderno e Sacro-Profano, dated 1745. The map is oriented with the south-west to the top; the convention that north should always be at the top had not yet come into being. The eight columns along the foot contain the key to 79 place-names. Vignettes of shipping surround the island and two sea monsters complete the picture. Bartolo’s map is one of two separate maps of Gozo made in the first half of the 18th century. The other manuscript map is extant in an Italian archive, possible made in the 1720s, which shows the projects for the fortification of Mgarr and new works beneath the Castello. - Read more

Friday night, December 31st marked the end of the year 2004. That same night the whole world welcomed and celebrated the beginning of year 2005. During these days of festivities most people share and wish each other joy and happiness. We also receive and exchange gifts, shake hands and give a sign of goodwill. It is time for celebration.
Most of Gozitan people welcome year 2005 by attending traditional religious services which were held in most of our local churches. Others were enjoying their dinner at restaurants or hotels, while most of the young once attended the Gozo Music Festival, an event that was held under a big tent which was transformed into a Dance Arena at a football ground in Victoria.
But celebrations do not come the same way for all people, especially those sick or suffering from serious illnesses, and those who lost a loved one. It was not the same for lonely people, those who spend Christmas days away from their families, and countries where war rages on.
At the beginning of this year we must not forget countries like Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries in this region which were hit by the strongest tsunami in the last forty years, being massive tidal waves leaving more than 123,998 victims (nearly one third of the population of the Maltese Islands). This Indian Ocean Tsunami caused also a lot of damages in these countries, leaving millions of people displaced and homeless. A lot of these people now are living under provided tents without food and water.
Total number of victims confirmed is 123,998, and is expecting to exceed 150,000.
At the time of writing the statistics so far:
East Africa 137
Bangladesh 2
India 10,736
Indonesia 79,940 up to 100,000
Malaysia 72
Maldives 67
Sri Lanka 28,508
The Malta Red Cross Society launched an appeal for help and asked for donations from the Maltese public to assist the victims of this disaster. Gozitans helped by giving donations either through churches or through other organizations. Containers were placed outside Ninu Cremona Secondary School in Victoria, where Gozitans donate sheets, blankets, tents, tinned food and water. These packed containers together with others from Malta about fifty will be transported to the countries hit by this disaster, especially Sri Lanka.
For further information, please contact Malta Red Cross Society; email; redcross@redcross.org.mt
For pictures about Tsunami Please Click Here

When Rome was about 753 years old, Augustus Caesar was ruling over her Empire which stretched from the Spanish peninsula to lands beyond Palestine. He wanted to know exactly how many people were the subjects of Rome, so he ordered a general census.
The order went to all the Roman lands, and the people went to register their names, every one in his own city. It was for this reason that a saintly carpenter, called Joseph, together with his very young wife, Mary, went from Galilee to Bethlehem to register their names in the city of David. When they arrived there, they wanted to hire a room, but they could not find one in all the places, and they were given a stable in which to stay the night.
That night changed the history of the world. The promised Redeemer was born to Mary and he was called Jesus.
The birth of Christ marked the change from the Old testament to the New ; it brought the founding of the Christian Church by Jesus Himself. It also began the age of real civilization based on love and charity.
The years from the Birth of Christ onwards are called the years of Our Lord, and are marked by the letters AD. (Anno Domini)
For pictures about cribs Please Click Here

The inspiration for Carols by Candlelight came on Christmas Eve in 1937, as the late radio veteran, Norman Banks, strolled along St.Kilda Road in Melbourne, Australia after a late-night radio shift. As he walked, he noticed an elderly woman sitting up in bed by her window, her face lit by a lone forlornly candle. She had a radio beside her and was singing along to the Christmas Carol Away in a Manger.
The following Christmas Eve he broadcast a great carol sung by all who wanted to join in because he wanted to unify the community by sharing in the joy of Christmas in a simple, yet meaningful way. In 1938, about 10,000 people gathered in Alexandra Gardens to sing carols with a 30-strong choir, two soloist and the metropolitan Fire Brigade Band.
This unusual candlelit setting became a tradition not only in Melbourne but also around the world.
In Puritan England, Oliver Cromwell banned the joyous theme of Christmas Carols and many of the very old Christmas carols were subsequently lost forever. Christmas carols became popular again during the Victorian era when they again expressed joyful and merry themes in their lyrics as opposed to the normal, more sombre, Christian lyrics found in hymns.

During these Christmas days Gozitans and tourists can enjoy themselves by visiting various cribs, which are exhibited around the island. There are 18 static cribs and 9 mechanical ones, which are open to the public. Four of these are at the village of Xaghra. It is well known that Saint Francis of Assisi made the first Christmas crib in 1223. In Malta the Dominican Friars of Valletta in 1599 started to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the Rosary Chapel. In Rabat (Malta) the same Friars in 1617 led a procession with paper lanterns lit by oil lamps. It is also known that they also built a crib. This seems to be the first time that the crib was ever mentioned in the Maltese islands. These cribs are mostly made of papier manche` or rocks, at the centre there is baby Jesus lying on the straws, Our Lady Mary, St Joseph, a cow and a donkey, the shepherds and some sheep. Some of them also have a windmill, a donkey turning the water-wheel while water keeps coming out from a spring. The shepherd feeding the animals, the wonder man, the baker, the climber who is trying to have a better view, and a beautiful landscape of the nearby villages. Most of the Gozitans families during these Christmas days built some sort of a crib big or small that goes together with a well-decorated Christmas tree and windows full of twinkling small coloured lights. For more pictures about cribs Please Click Here

The Leone Philharmonic Society on December 4th, presented the annual band concert directed by Mro. Colin Attard at the Opera Theatre “Aurora” in Victoria Gozo, to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the proclamation the Dogma of the Assumption. This dogma is that of the Assumption of The Virgin Mary that after her life on earth, Mary was assumed into heaven in body and soul. Pope Pius Xll proclaimed this on November 1st, 1950. On this day’s eve October 31st, 1950 the Leone Society celebrated this event for the first time, where the statue of St. Mary was displayed at the main door of the Banca Guratale at the main square it-Tokk. Since then a musical concert been held in the same square every year on the first Sunday of November. But because of inclement weather, which often disrupted this concert, a few years ago it was decided to hold same concert at the Aurora Theatre.
As a souvenir for this occasion a booklet been published to the public. It contains the programme that was held, ”Il Barbiere Di Siviglia” Gioachino Rossi; “La Traviata” Giuseppe Verdi; “Orpheus in the Underworld” Jacques Offenbach; selections of “Charles Chaplin” and “Abba Gold”, a message from the president of Leone Society. Dr. Michael Caruana, and two articles by Mr. Anton F. Attard.