Xagħra Feast 2026: Il-Vitorja, the Festa of Marija Bambina
Xagħra celebrates the Nativity of Our Lady, Il-Bambina, on Tuesday 8 September 2026, and no village on Gozo is more completely built around its feast: the square is named Pjazza il-Vitorja, the band is the Victory Band, the date is Victory Day itself, a national public holiday, and the celebrations fill one of the largest and most handsome village squares on the island. It’s the grand finale of Gozo’s summer festa season, and to our mind one of the most atmospheric feasts of the year.
When Is the Xagħra Feast 2026?
The feast day is Tuesday 8 September 2026, and like Santa Marija it never moves: the Nativity of Our Lady is fixed to the 8th and doubles as the Victory Day public holiday across Malta and Gozo. Celebrations build through the two weeks before, with the confirmed 2026 events below and the full programme published by the parish on its Facebook page.
Top Tip: With the feast on a Tuesday and the Monday eve carrying the big fireworks, 2026’s Il-Vitorja makes a long weekend of it; if you’re planning a September trip, anchor it to the 5th to 9th and you’ll catch the whole crescendo.
Listen In: Radju Bambina
Xagħra has its own parish radio station, Radju Bambina, broadcasting the feast on 98.3FM with a live stream via the parish website. As with the feast stations in Qala, Għajnsielem and Victoria, it’s how Xagħrin around the world follow their festa, and where programme changes are announced first.
Why 8 September Matters So Much in Malta
Like Santa Marija in August, this date carries two histories at once. The religious one is the birth of Mary, celebrated across the islands as Il-Bambina. The national one is victory, three times over: the end of the Great Siege of 1565, the surrender of the French in 1800 and the effective end of the Siege of Malta in the Second World War are all marked on 8 September, which is why the day is Victory Day, Jum il-Vitorja, and a public holiday. Xagħra’s feast wears both meanings in its name, and in recent years the Pontifical mass in the Basilica has ended with the singing of the Maltese national anthem, a moment you won’t find at any other village feast on Gozo.
What to Expect at Il-Vitorja
The setting does half the work. Xagħra’s square is one of the biggest on Gozo, generous enough for the crowds, the band platforms and the fireworks to breathe, with the Basilica of the Nativity presiding over it. The Victory Band is the feast’s engine, another of Gozo’s well-travelled bands home for its own week, and the fireworks are village-made: the Għaqda Żgħażagħ Brijużi Xagħrin, the briju group founded in 1973, builds and stages the displays itself, a distinction most villages can’t claim.
The feast day follows the full festa arc with two touches of its own. The masses start at five in the morning, a detail that tells you how seriously Xagħra takes the day, and the evening procession with the statue of the Bambina is a torchlight procession, the square and streets lit by flame as the rosary is said. On a warm September night, with the season’s last big fireworks overhead, it earns the “most atmospheric” label honestly.
If the wider festa rhythm is new to you, the petards, band marches and processions, our Gozo village feasts guide explains the traditions behind what you’re watching.
What’s on and When
The programme runs a full fortnight and a good deal of it is liturgical. These are the parts you can simply turn up to, and all of them are free.
Friday 28 August: The novena opens and the Bambina comes out of her niche. Fireworks over the square at 9pm, after which the Victory Band leads the children through the streets behind a small statue of the Bambina. It’s as good an introduction to how Xagħra does this as you’ll get.
Wednesday 2 September: The 53rd anniversary of the coronation of the titular statue. At 9.30pm the band marches out of the square and down 8th September Avenue, ending with a statue of the Bambina raised onto its pedestal at the lower end of the street. Stay out for it: at 12.15am there’s an audio-visual feature and fireworks set to music.
b The Victory Philharmonic Society’s musical programme on the square. This is the concert night, the one evening the square is arranged for listening rather than marching.
Friday 4 September, 9.30pm: Band march.
Saturday 5 September, 9.30pm: Two visiting bands rather than the home one, the Leone Band of Victoria and the St Lawrence Band of Birgu. At midnight the restored monumental pedestal is inaugurated, and half an hour later a group of musicians works through popular songs and marches.
Sunday 6 September, 9pm: The Victory Band and the Santa Marija Band of Żebbuġ march along Mannar Street, followed by a manifestation carrying the statue of the Bambina from Nazzarenu up to Victory Square. Fireworks synchronised to music at 12.15am.
Monday 7 September, the eve: The biggest night before the day itself. The Victory Band marches at 6pm to welcome Bishop Anton Teuma for the translation of the relic. At 8.30pm comes the Night of Victory, the display built and staged by the Għaqda Żgħażagħ Brijużi Xagħrin themselves. Band marches and music from 9pm, and at midnight the Basilica façade takes a 3D projection mapping show, with a drone display and fireworks after it.
Tuesday 8 September, the feast: Masses from 5am, with the Pontifical mass at 9am presided over by Cardinal Mario Grech. Band marches at 11.30am and a show at 2.30pm. The procession with the titular statue leaves at 7pm and returns to the square at 9.30pm for the grand salute, the singing and the last fireworks of the season.
Saturday 12 September, 7pm: The mass of thanksgiving, at the end of which the Bambina is carried back into her niche. Summer is officially over.
Top Tip: The late nights really are late. The projection and drone show on the eve start at midnight, and the fireworks on the 2nd and 6th go off at quarter past.
Make a Day of It: Ġgantija and Calypso’s Gozo
Xagħra hosts the two oldest stories on the island, and both are a stroll from the square. The Ġgantija Temples, older than the pyramids and among the oldest freestanding monuments on earth, sit at the village’s edge, and on the ridge beyond them Calypso’s Cave looks down over Ramla Bay, the spot tradition names as the nymph’s home in Homer’s Odyssey, which would make Gozo the island where Odysseus lingered for seven years. Temples in the afternoon, the ridge above Ramla for sunset, and back in the square as the torches are lit: five thousand years of Xagħra in one evening.
Where to Stay for the Xagħra Feast
Xagħra has some of the best accommodation depth of any feast village: farmhouses and guesthouses in the village itself, with Marsalforn’s seafront ten minutes down the hill and Ramla Bay below the ridge. Stay in the village for the full festa immersion, mornings included, or down the hill for a quieter base a short ride from the square.
Getting There and Home Again
Xagħra is around ten minutes from Victoria and twenty-five from the Mġarr ferry terminal. Buses serve the village from Victoria but thin out after about 9pm, so plan on Bolt or eCabs for the journey home, and note that with the eve and feast falling on a Monday and Tuesday, the public holiday timetable applies on the 8th. If you’re driving, park on the approach roads and walk in; the square and the streets around it close for the celebrations.
You can find full details in our guide to getting to and around Gozo.
FAQ
Il-Vitorja is how Gozo’s festa season ends the summer: the last big square filled, the last torches lit, the season’s final fireworks over a village that has victory in its very name. If you’ve caught the feast bug over the summer, the full calendar is in our village feasts guide, Għajnsielem’s Loreto festa runs the weekend before, and our September What’s On guide has our top picks for everything else happening around the feast. If you can’t wait until 2027, there are a few smaller feasts, such as Santa Luċija in December, that you can catch.