Munxar Feast 2026: The Festa of San Pawl
Most visitors know Xlendi Bay long before they know Munxar, which is a shame, because the bay belongs to Munxar’s parish and the village up the hill is where its feast happens. Munxar celebrates San Pawl, Saint Paul the Apostle, and in 2026 the festa has shifted from its usual May slot to Sunday 13 September. For a village this small it is a surprisingly big feast, with band marches, a midnight fireworks display and a light show you would not expect from a place this quiet.
When Is the Munxar Feast 2026?
The feast day is Sunday 13 September 2026. That is later than Munxar’s festa normally falls, it is usually a May feast and one of the openers of Gozo’s festa season, but in 2026 the celebration was moved to September. The novena and the tridu build over the days before, so the village is busy for a good week ahead of the Sunday. The parish publishes the full programme on its Facebook page closer to the time, and that is the place to check exact timings.
Top Tip: San Pawl is the patron Munxar shares with the whole of Malta. Saint Paul was reputedly shipwrecked on the islands around AD 60, an event still marked by one of the country’s grandest feasts in Valletta.
How the Feast Unfolds
The programme below follows recent years rather than a confirmed 2026 schedule, and it is a full one.
The feast opens with the ħruġ min-niċċa, when the titular statue of San Pawl is brought out from its niche to prayer and hymns. The nine days of the novena follow, each evening given to a different part of the parish: families and married couples, children, the sick, emigrants and the Munxarin living abroad. One morning belongs to the children, with a Festa Tfal and a small procession of the San Pawl statue from the church through Triq il-Madonna tal-Karmnu, Pjazza tal-Knisja and Triq Dun Spir Gauci.
The final three days, the tridu, are when the village fills. A traditional festa meal is laid on in the streets, there are concerts in the square, and the guest bands arrive. The Allegro Clef Band, a familiar face at festas across the island, leads the marches, joined over the big nights by the Prekursur Band of Xewkija, the Mnarja Band of Nadur, Victoria’s Ċittadina La Stella and the Victory Band of Xagħra. Late on the tridu’s final night the statue is carried in a demonstration through Triq il-Munxar, Triq Prof. Ġużè Aquilina and Triq il-Madonna tal-Karmnu, lifted onto its pedestal in the square at midnight and followed by a ground fireworks display.
Feast eve brings the biggest of the light shows: Light Up The Sky, fireworks and pyrotechnics set to music in Triq l-Andrijiet, and near midnight an audio-visual feature with a 3D mapping display in the square. On feast day the Ċittadina La Stella salutes the titular statue with l-Innu l-Kbir before the evening procession carries San Pawl through the village, accompanied by the Victory Band, returning to the church at night to the antiphon and sacramental blessing. A thanksgiving mass a day or two later sees the statue back in its niche, and the feast is done for another year.
Confirmed 2026 Dates So Far
Sunday 13 September 2026: the feast day, centred on the Munxar parish church and Pjazza tal-Knisja. The rest of the programme will be added once the parish publishes it.
A Feast a Century in the Making
Munxar’s parish church is dedicated to Saint Paul, and it is younger than many on Gozo: it was consecrated in 1925 and marked its centenary in 2025 with a feast on a grand scale. The parish reaches down the valley to take in Xlendi Bay, which is why the same stretch of Triq il-Madonna tal-Karmnu runs through both the village’s feast and Xlendi’s own. The link runs deeper than geography. Fr Ġużepp Curmi, the Munxar priest who commissioned Xlendi’s statue of Our Lady of Carmel in 1965, is one of several Curmi clergy whose names recur through the Munxar feast to this day.
What Makes the Munxar Festa Special
Two things stand out, and both come back to scale.
The first is how much this small village throws at its feast. The midnight 3D mapping, the synchronised fire and music of Light Up The Sky, the run of guest bands, these are set pieces you would expect from one of Gozo’s big parishes, staged instead in a village you can cross on foot in minutes.
The second is Xlendi. Because the bay sits inside Munxar’s parish, San Pawl and Xlendi’s Our Lady of Carmel are two feasts of the same community. Xlendi celebrates on the first Sunday of September, and in 2026 Munxar’s feast follows a week later on the 13th, so you could take in both on a single early-September trip.
Where to Stay for the Munxar Feast
Munxar itself is quiet and residential, with a handful of self-catering places and farmhouses. Most visitors base themselves a little wider: down in Xlendi, which has the bay, the restaurants and the easiest walk back after the fireworks, or in Victoria, ten minutes away and central for the rest of the island.
Getting There and Home Again
Munxar sits above Xlendi, a short drive or a stiff walk up from the bay, and inland from Victoria. Buses run to the village but thin out in the evening, so for the late nights of the feast plan on Bolt or eCabs to get home, or drive and park towards the edge of the village, as the streets around the square close for the celebrations. Full details are in our guide to getting to and around Gozo.
You can find full details in our guide to getting to and around Gozo.
FAQ
For a village most people only pass through on the way to Xlendi, Munxar’s feast is worth planning an evening around. This year, Victoria celebrates Our Lady of Graces on the very same Sunday, Xlendi’s feast comes the week before, and our September What’s On has the rest of the month around them.