In Mal­ta, Christ­mas is known as "Il-Mi­lied" and cel­e­brat­ed on De­cem­ber 25.Here, the fes­ti­val is tra­di­tion­al­ly cen­tred on pre­sepju or Na­tiv­i­ty cribs. Dur­ing Christ­mas time in Mal­ta, cribs are built al­most every­where and by every­one.These are then dec­o­rat­ed with fig­urines, called pas­turi–rep­re­sent­ing Je­sus, Mary, and Joseph, the shep­herds, an­gels, vil­lagers and an­i­mals such as cows, don­keys and sheep.

On De­cem­ber 24, Mal­tese church­es are dec­o­rat­ed with lights and na­tiv­i­ty cribs built by church­go­ers.The fig­ure of the ba­by Je­sus is placed on the main al­tar at the mid­night hour of Christ­mas night, com­mem­o­rat­ing the birth of the Mes­si­ah.A Mal­tese group known as Friends of the Crib see to it that the crib tra­di­tion re­mains alive.

The tra­di­tion of dis­play­ing cribs first be­gan in 1617, when the first true Mal­tese crib is be­lieved to have been made and dis­played in the Do­mini­can Fri­ars Church in Ra­bat.Since then, the cus­tom has gained its ground and gone from strength to strength.In 1921, the renowned priest George Pre­ca or­gan­ised a Christ­mas Eve pro­ces­sion with a life-size fig­ure of the in­fant Je­sus be­ing car­ried at the front.

The idea be­came very pop­u­lar with peo­ple of all ages, and this was how the very spe­cial Mal­tese tra­di­tion­al Christ­mas pro­ces­sion start­ed.The cus­tom is huge­ly pop­u­lar even to­day, and forms an in­te­gral part of the Christ­mas Eve cel­e­bra­tions. Every home in Mal­ta has its own Christ­mas tree, dec­o­rat­ed with light bulbs, tin­sel and oth­er items of em­bell­ish­ment.

The in­te­ri­or of every house is adorned with Christ­mas wreaths, can­dles and all sorts of oth­er dec­o­ra­tions. It is tra­di­tion­al to sow wheat, grain and ca­nary seed, or gul­bi­ena, on cot­ton buds in dark cor­ners in the house. These are sown five weeks be­fore Christ­mas and left undis­turbed.

At around Christ­mas day, white grass-like shoots sprout from the seeds. These are then used to dec­o­rate the crib or the stat­ue of ba­by Je­sus.On Christ­mas Eve, a pro­ces­sion is held, fol­lowed by the mid­night Mass ser­vice, which is at­tend­ed by most of the Mal­tese pop­u­la­tion, who are Catholics.Af­ter Mass it is cus­tom­ary to greet "Il-Mi­lied It-Tai­jeb" (Mer­ry Christ­mas), to all those as­sem­bled. Christ­mas day in Mal­ta is a time to cel­e­brate with fam­i­ly.

All ex­tend­ed mem­bers of a fam­i­ly as­sem­ble in one house for lunch, and stay there till the evening. Christ­mas lunch in Mal­ta tra­di­tion­al­ly con­sists of "dund­jan" (turkey), "qaghaq tal-ghasel" (hon­ey rings) and "pu­d­i­na tal-Mi­lied" (Christ­mas pud­ding). Christ­mas dish­es in Mal­ta are heav­i­ly in­flu­enced by British tra­di­tions.