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.
The 2026 Programme
Thursday 3 September: Children’s Evening
The build-up opens gently, with a children’s evening in Pjazza tal-Munxar at 7.45pm. Games, a jumping castle and entertainment, run by the SZPM. If you are travelling with grandchildren this is the easiest way into the fortnight.
Sunday 6 September: Ħruġ min-Niċċa
The feast proper begins at 9.30am in the Munxar parish church with the ħruġ min-niċċa, when the titular statue of San Pawl is brought out from its niche for the first time. Mass precedes it at 9am. It is a short, quiet moment compared with what follows, and worth catching for exactly that reason. It also falls on the same Sunday as Xlendi’s feast down in the bay, so you can take in both.
Wednesday 9 September: Festa Tfal
The first day of the tridu. After the evening mass, at 8.30pm, the statue of San Pawl leaves the church and is carried through the decorated streets of Munxar before being raised onto the pedestal in Triq Dun Spir Gauci. The children’s feast is smaller than the demonstration marches later in the week and a good deal easier to watch with a family in tow.
Thursday 10 September: The Fifteenth Anniversary March
A commemorative march marking fifteen years of the SZPM, starting at 9pm from the pjazzetta in Triq San Pawl and moving through Triq San Pawl, Pjazza tal-Knisja and Triq il-Madonna tal-Karmnu, with the San Girgor Band of Kerċem playing.
At 10pm there is an aerial display of traditional petards, the flash and colour kind, closing with balloons of every size sent up over the village. The march peaks in Triq il-Madonna tal-Karmnu with a commemorative feature, a fireworks show synchronised to music, and something the society is keeping back as a surprise.
Friday 11 September: The Demonstration March
The big one. The demonstration march starts at 9pm in Triq Munxar, with the statue of San Pawl carried through Triq Munxar, Triq Profs Ġużè Aquilina, Triq il-Madonna tal-Karmnu and Pjazza tal-Knisja, accompanied by the Prekursur Band of Xewkija. A feature for the occasion goes up at 10.30pm.
The climax comes when the statue is lifted onto its pedestal in the square, and at midnight the ground fireworks follow. Munxar’s ground fireworks are the reason plenty of people come, and standing in a village square this size while they run is a different proposition to watching them from across a valley.
Saturday 12 September: Sky Full of Stars
At 10.30pm, in front of the parish centre, the second edition of the Holo Concert, the first event of its kind staged in Gozo. Thirty-five musicians of The Gozo Youth Wind Band & Orchestra play alongside local DJ Micimago, with light effects, 3D mapping and holograms.
Sunday 13 September: Feast Day
The feast day itself, centred on the parish church and Pjazza tal-Knisja, with the evening procession carrying San Pawl through the village. The parish publishes the liturgical timings closer to the date on its Facebook page, and we will add them here once they are out.
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. Xlendi’s feast comes the week before, Victoria’s Our Lady of Graces follows the week after, and our September What’s On has the rest of the month around them.