Għażżiela Collection

This family consisted of a widowed woman with five children, all girls.

It is said that once there was a night of fierce weather; rain and lightning. This family was terrified in such weather as their house was right on the edge of the village exposed and without shelter. The next morning after the storm passed, the children woke up and told their mother a strange dream they had that night. Amazing thing they all dreamed the same dream; that during that storm many lightnings were trying to enter their house but a ring of fire with a symbol in it was pushing the lightnings out of their house. The mother thought a lot about this dream and she together with her eldest daughter went to the parish priest to tell him everything.

The priest gave them a piece of dough so that the girl could tell him exactly what this symbol they saw was like. The priest realized that the symbol inside the circle of fire that he was told about was nothing but M the first letter of the name of Our Lady.

The priest took this dream seriously because Our Lady was the one who saved them from that night of fierce storm. So he made many of these dough symbols and distributed them to parishioners so that they too would be protected from the storm. This custom over time continued to become a festival dedicated to Our Lady of the Beautiful (this symbol of the M). This festival takes place close to the first Sunday of October and in many of the houses not only in Zebbug but in Gozo you will find one of these Ghazziela to protect the family from lightning. Don't miss out on this exclusive collection, now available at website.