The history of the celebrations
Introduced by Grand Master Piero de Ponte, Carnival has been celebrated in Malta since 1535 and would originally have seen knights displaying their skills through a series of games and tournaments.
By 1560, the knights were reprimanded for taking the festivities too far, decorating ships and filling the harbour with extravagant dancing and music, and so the festivities commenced. Carnival owes its popularity to the fact that this was the last opportunity to eat and make merry before Lent, the 40-day fasting period before Easter. But as well as food, soon parades of lavishly decorated floats soon joined the fray.
