Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546198
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2026 FEATURE MaltaSajf: The colours, smells, noise and SUMMER is filled with little joys. The smell of Dewfresh pink sausages as you crack open a Cisk Lager. The crunchy ftira brimming with canned tuna, capers and olive oil. The fresh breeze as you turn on the blue bladed fan, which has been in your family for what feels like generations. No matter where you stand on the summer-winter divide, even if in secret, some seasonal traits are too good to hate. As the hotter months roll in, Malta comes alive with colour, music and food. In recent years, this collec- tive experience has increas- ingly been encapsulated by a single phrase: MaltaSajf. Used widely across social media by the younger generation, the term has become synonymous with everything that defines Maltese summer. Although the expression has its origins in a 1980s music festival, its modern meaning has evolved far beyond that event. It has become a shorthand for the sights, sounds, smells and spirit of summer in Malta. But what makes MaltaSajf? For many, summer begins with a trip to the beach. And no beach day is complete without the essentials: Colourful um- brellas planted in the sand, plas- tic chairs whose origins are only known by the patriarch of the family and cooler boxes stacked with homemade pasta salad and ftiras. Friends and family, sometimes gather under makeshift cano- pies, spend the day by the sea swimming, playing card games (with that same uncle who's always cheating) and chatting away. As kids we also remember the dread of having to sit, snorkel in hand, as mum lathered our face and back with sunblock "because Malta's sun is unfor- giving." A day at the beach would not be com- plete without s o m e t h i n g to cool you down. If y o u ' r e t h i r s t y , it's always good to r e m e m b e r freezing your Kristal water bottle from the day before, and if you're looking for some- thing sweeter, keep your ears open for the ice-cream van's jingle as it rolls up to the same spot year after year. Ice-cream and its many va- rieties have also summer sta- ples. Whether it's the blue slush from the local gabbana, the 'ġelat tal-magna' with extra flake from Mr Whippy, the clas- sic Mivvi or the ice cream with chewing gum at the end of the cone-shaped plastic container, everyone has their favourite. Summer afternoons then bring out the Mediterranean in us. In the true spirit of slowing down, after a hearty lunch, shutters are closed, the familiar hum of the fan fills the room, and it's time for a well-earned siesta before heading back out to enjoy the cooler evening—unless there is a heat- wave. In the eve- nings vil- lages across Malta and Gozo come alive with the unmis- takable atmos- phere of the festa season. The oily aroma from the fast-food trucks fills the KARL AZZOPARDI kazzopardi@mediatoday.com.mt For many, summer begins with a trip to the beach. And no beach day is complete without the essentials: Colourful umbrellas planted in the sand, plastic chairs whose origins are only known by the patriarch of the family and cooler boxes stacked with homemade pasta salad and ftiras Maltese ftira Summer includes drinking lots of water