The town of Bormla - also known as Cospicua (so renamed after the Great Siege of 1565 because of the prominent role it played during the siege) - is one of the historical Three Cities, and is well known for its annual Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is held each year on 8 December.

Virgin Mary is the patron saint of the hamlet, and as part of the celebrations, a statue of the Virgin is carried through its streets. The original statue of the Immaculate Conception was sculpted in wood in around 1680 by Suor Maria De Domenicis, and it is believed that she carved the statue from the trunk of a miraculous carob tree on which Our Lady is said to have appeared.

In the early 1900s, the statue was sent to Milan for parts of the statue to be clad in silver by the workshop Antonio Ghezzi e Figli, who carried out the proposed alterations. During World War II, it was decided to transport the statue together with other prized works of art to Birkirkara in order to protect them from the constant air raids on Cospicua. It was declared that if the Cospicua parish church and oratory were spared from destruction during the war, a pilgrimage would take place to bring the statue back. So it was.

As the parish church was still standing after the war, on November 19, 1944, both the statue and works of art were brought back to Cospicua followed by crowds of devotees. The pilgrimage passed though Birkirkara, Ħamrun, Blata l-Bajda and Paola on its way to Cospicua.

Today, the statue continues to form a central part of the annual festa, accompanying celebrations that kick off almost a week before as lights are hung, banners unfurled and icons of the saint taken out and proudly exhibited across balconies and in windows.

Bormla (Cospicua), alongside Isla (Sengla) and Birgu (Vittoriosa) comprise Malta’s historical Three Cities - some of the oldest villages on the island that have been inhabited since Neolithic times.