The night before, the wood at Buskett fills up with families on blankets, with picnic baskets and lanterns hung between the trees. Folk musicians and g魔ana singers perform from little stages all over the wood. People wander from one stage to another, listening to whichever singer they like best.
The smell of fenkata (rabbit stew) drifts through the trees from cooking pots. Long trestle tables are set up for whole families. Children stay up much later than usual - one of the best parts of Imnarja for any kid is the official permission to be at a picnic at 1 in the morning.
In the morning, after a few hours' sleep, the festival moves on to a big agricultural show. Farmers display their best fruit and vegetables - giant marrows, perfect tomatoes, biggest bunches of grapes. There are also horse and donkey races on the road just outside Mdina.
Imnarja is much, much older than most Maltese festivals - probably hundreds of years old. It started as a celebration of the start of the harvest. Today, even if most Maltese families don't farm any more, Imnarja still keeps a connection to the countryside, to summer nights, and to old songs sung in old voices.