Three years had passed and I was in search of one of the gentlemen with the noticeable hump on their back. There had to be a neat story there. I returned to the church where the Good Friday procession was run out of and encountered a gentleman and explained my intentions on finding one of the gentlemen that I had witnessed. Thankfully he knew what I was asking for however he had to make a few phone calls to find out who would be the best person to talk to. \u201cI\u2019ll find you the big one\u201d he said. I can\u2019t lie, that excited me. \u201cNoel Grixti, the big one\u201d. So we had a name but we needed to locate the number. He flipped page by page through his hand written telephone book about 4 times without any success. \u201cOne more time\u201d. Thankfully that one more time located the mobile number of Dr. Ivan Grixti.<\/p>\n
I was able to get a hold of Dr. Grixti and we arranged to meet at a boutique hotel in Valletta. After some time talking about his upbringing in Valletta, we dove into his personal passion with statue carrying. \u201cIt\u2019s roughly 1.2 miles\u201d. \u201cI do it with devotion. In fact so much so every year I have a different intention\u201d. He recalls that one year a friend of his had a break up and because his fianc\u00e8e was so taken back, she attempted to harm herself by overdosing on medication. He suggested to his friend that he could be at the hospital and just wait or join in prayer at the Good Friday Procession. The intention that Ivan made that year was to heal the pain and suffering of his friend\u2019s finance. \u201cit was life or death\u201d he says. He simply wrote her name on a piece of paper and placed that paper at the base of the cross that was part of the statue he was to carry. He recalls looking at the knees of the statue of Jesus and feeling compelled at that moment to run inside the church and write down her name and place it at the base of the cross. \u201cWe did a miracle that day. She survived. \u201cShe came back to her senses\u201d.<\/p>\n
He has been carrying statues for 29 years – next year will be his 30th. \u201cTo be honest with you, I\u2019ve already planned to step aside\u201d he says. To him, this is like professional football. \u201cThere are an amount of years that you\u2019re good at but then you have to be gentleman and that\u2019s it\u201d. There are 8 statues and each one has its own intricacies and own weight. He began to carry statues even before he considered it serious – so adding to his 30 years. He carried one particular statue \u201cBehold the Man\u201d for 11 years straight. He says it is carried by 6 men and weighs 400 kilograms. Ivan says that for those that do well with this particular statue, there is a great likelihood that that person will do well with the crucifixion statue. Him and his \u201cbuddy\u201d carried the \u201cBehold the Man\u201d statue together for years and now they share the honour of carrying the crucifixion statue. \u201cI\u2019m left wing, my buddy is right wing\u201d.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time for me to zone in on his callus that has formed on his back from carrying the statues. The crucifixion statue weighs nearly 1.2 tons carried by 10 men. He confesses that it\u2019s not an easy feat. He stresses that carrying the statues in Valletta during this procession, they move from corner to street corner with the band moving in one way and the bearers moving in another way. \u201cSometimes I close my eyes\u201d thinking about having to walk so far and even uphill still. He\u2019s actually very thankful to have the callus. \u201cOnce you get used to the weight, this becomes so hot with the friction of the wood, you can practically take any weight\u201d. He confirms that other gentlemen carrying the statue have calluses as well. He says it is a phenomenon. \u201cMost statue bearers in Valletta has some form of this\u201d.<\/p>\n
After Valletta 2018, Dr. Grixti says that although he will not be participating as a bearer, he will be involved. \u201cI\u2019m going to do surgery to take this off\u201d, he says. I ask him if he wears it as a badge of honour. He answers me this way: \u201cI\u2019ll answer your question this way. I would prefer dying with it\u201d. He has a smaller callus that he will retain so the significant physical reminder – of his immovable devotion – will not be completely removed.<\/p>\n
Excerpt from: \u201cValletta – A Personal City Guide by 8 tourist guides from Malta\u201d Midsea books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few years back I happened to be in Valletta on Good Friday of the Easter Week. I had seen a Good Friday procession in the village of Paola before so I was looking to see one in the capital city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n