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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 SEPTEMBER 2022
OPINION
14
EYEWITNESS
Hunters'
salute
HUNTERS this week saluted
their patron saint firing of a
musketterija as the statue was
taken out of the St Julian's par-
ish church.
For the 40th year running,
the hunters fired blank car-
tridges filled with black
powder from the roof of the
church.
Many consider St Huber-
tus to be the patron saint of
hunters, but St Julian the
Hospitaller is also invoked by
hunters in various parts of the
world.
The devotion to the saint
was encouraged under the
Knights of St John, them-
selves a Hospitaller order.
And in the time of the
knights St Julian's was also a
hunting area.
Although musketterija is
usually linked with fireworks,
the word originated from the
word 'musket'.
