Malta Unveils Green Ferries, Folk-Rap Fusion and Ħeloween Holiday in Historic Triple Announcement

Announcements – September 5, 2025: A Maltese Mosaic of Change, Celebration and Collective Purpose

By 08:00 this morning, the first shaft of sunlight had already painted the honey-coloured limestone of Valletta’s balconied façades gold, but the city’s heartbeat was beating even faster than usual. From the steps of the Grandmaster’s Palace, Prime Minister Roberta Abela stepped up to the microphone and delivered a surprise three-part announcement that will ripple through every village square and Facebook group from Għarb to Marsaxlokk.

First came the long-rumoured “Gozo Green Corridor”. As of 1 October, the Gozo Channel ferries will run on 100 % green hydrogen produced at the new Hondoq ir-Rummien plant, cutting 23,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually—roughly the same weight as 1,800 festa confetti trucks. The €34 million EU-funded project also includes 36 km of cycling lanes connecting Victoria to Xlendi, Mġarr ix-Xini and Marsalforn. “This is more than transport policy,” Abela told the crowd of flag-waving students bussed in from the Gozo College. “It is a love-letter to our sister island’s silent valleys and star-lit bays.”

Next, she unveiled a €2 million cultural grant scheme to revive the vanishing “għana” folk tradition among teenagers. Partnering with PBS, TikTok and the Malta Philharmonic, the scheme will pair ten veteran għannejja with ten secondary schools to co-create tracks that mash up centuries-old melodies with drill beats and lo-fi synths. The pilot single, recorded last week in a makeshift studio in Birkirkara’s old train station, already has 310,000 streams under the hashtag #Għana2050.

But the announcement that drew the loudest gasp was the declaration of Friday, 19 September as a one-off national public holiday—“Ħeloween”, a portmanteau of “ħelu” (sweet) and Halloween. The idea, cooked up by the Ministry for Tourism and the confectioners’ guild, will see every town transform its main square into an open-air dessert festival. Expect imqaret battles in Rabat, nougat sculpting in Żebbuġ, and a city-wide treasure hunt where clues are hidden inside honey rings. The Malta Tourism Authority predicts an extra 40,000 visitors and a €12 million injection into the hospitality sector.

By noon, the news had already ignited the island’s favourite pastime: spirited debate in village band clubs. At the King’s Own Band Club in Valletta, retired teacher Carmenu Briffa, 71, poured a glass of Kinnie and grinned: “Green ferries? Excellent. But will they still serve pastizzi on board?” Meanwhile, 17-year-old rapper Denzel from St Julian’s was live-streaming his reaction: “Bro, if my grandad’s għana can hit Spotify’s global top 50, I’m rewriting my whole EP.”

The environmental lobby was cautiously optimistic. “Hydrogen is promising, but we need guarantees that the electricity used to produce it comes from renewables,” warned Annalise Xuereb, president of Friends of the Earth Malta. Heritage NGOs cheered the għana scheme but urged safeguards against “Disneyfication” of tradition. “We want innovation, not caricature,” said Dr Maria Camilleri, curator at MUŻA.

By evening, the real impact began to surface in the most Maltese of settings—festa committee WhatsApp groups. In Qormi, volunteers were already designing a hydrogen-themed float for next month’s St Sebastian procession. In Żejtun, bakers argued over whether ħeloween should feature the classic treacle ring or a daring pistachio twist. Even the usually stoic fishermen of Marsaxlokk posted a photo of their luzzus flying a green-and-white hydrogen flag.

As the sun slid behind the bastions, casting long shadows across the Triton Fountain, one thing was certain: September 5, 2025 will be remembered as the day Malta chose to honour its past while accelerating into a greener, sweeter and more tuneful future. Whether you’re clapping at a għana rap cypher, cycling through Gozo’s aromatic thyme paths, or biting into a still-warm imqaret under strings of festa bulbs, the announcements have given every citizen a reason to look up from their phone and smile at the stranger next to them. Because in Malta, change tastes like honey, sounds like a guitarra and sails on a turquoise sea that’s finally breathing a little easier.