St Martin's Day, the Zero-Waste Way: A Bag Worth Keeping

This week Malta celebrates St Martin, and for many children that means one thing: a bag of nuts and fruit. The feast is traditionally marked on the Sunday closest to 11 November, which this year is today, with the biggest gathering at the countryside fair in Baħrija, where the little church of St Martin stands. Stalls, music, imbuljuta tal-qastan and imqaret make it a proper day out. This Positive Vibes Sunday, let's keep every bit of that magic and lose the plastic.

The story behind the bag

St Martin was a Roman soldier who, according to the legend, cut his red cloak in half to share it with a freezing stranger. Sharing is the heart of the day, which makes it the perfect moment to ask a simple question: can the bag itself be shared, kept and reused too? The traditional borża is a cloth bag filled with fruit and nuts, so it is already halfway there. The extras are where waste creeps in: cellophane, plastic trays, individually wrapped sweets and a bag that is thrown away by Monday.

Make a borża that comes back every year

Choose the fabric: an old tea towel, a worn shirt sleeve, a curtain offcut or a scrap of linen all work well.
Cut a rectangle roughly 30 by 40 centimetres, fold it in half and sew or glue the two sides.
Hem the top, thread a ribbon, string or shoelace through it and pull it tight.
Let the children decorate it with fabric pens or scraps, and add their name and the year.
Pack it away with the Christmas decorations so it is ready next November.

Fill it loose and local

Walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and chestnuts, bought loose from a market stall or greengrocer in your own container.
Dried figs, dates, apricots or apple slices, and seasonal fruit such as tangerines and oranges. Seasonal fruit usually travels less and costs less.
A homemade treat or two: oat and honey bites, baked apple chips or a small piece of cake wrapped in beeswax cloth or paper.
A handwritten note about St Martin and his shared cloak.

Skip the glitter, balloons and plastic trinkets. A small wooden toy, a bookmark or a packet of seeds to sow at home will outlast anything that comes in a cellophane wrap.

Ideas for families, schools and small businesses

Schools and nurseries can run a borża-making afternoon and send the bags home with a short lesson on the legend.
Greengrocers, bakeries and market stalls can offer a bring-your-own-bag discount on loose nuts and fruit this week.
Neighbours can swap a few handfuls from their bags: a bag of mixed nuts is a lovely excuse to share the cloak spirit.
Fair organisers can encourage visitors to bring their own cups and plates for imbuljuta and imqaret.

After the feast

Eat the fruit, crack the shells into the compost, and wash and fold the bag for next year. If a borża is too small for a child who has grown, pass it on to a younger cousin or neighbour.

This week's challenge

Make one reusable borża, fill it loose, and tell one other family how you did it. If every household did, the St Martin's bag would stay as lovely as the legend and a lot lighter on the planet.