lkl re Guze Cassar Pullicino

alta and possess a rich legacy characteristic dgliajsas and fishing boats. M of . They stand half-way on They may see the farmer using a primitive the land ridge that once joined to plough (M. mofiriet), which is now fast , and their geographical position has going out of use, and the circular threshing influenced their and traditions. , floor (M. qiegna} of hard trampled earth. Besides reflecting the usages and ways of They cannot fail to notice the rubble walls thought of the present, separating the fields, and the wayside preserves the soul of the past, embodying shrines, niches and stone crosses. They will the mode of life and the beliefs and hear the cries of the hawkers at town or practices of preceding centuries. This village festivals, and at the open-air national heritage of lore and tradition is markets held at and other the product of simple, psychological localities. Besides, there are numerous reactions to the historical environments items of local craft produce to choose and to the various culture contacts which from, including silver and gold filigree our people have experienced in the past. At work, probably introduced into via different times and by various routes, Sicily during the 17th century, and hand­ many people have come to these islands made lace, which achieved a high degree of and dominated them for varying periods. perfection in the 18th century and then, Each ruling group - Punic, Roman, Arab, after a period of decline, was revived by Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese, Lady Hamilton Chichester and others in .Castilian, the Knights of St John of the 19th century. These and other aspects Jerusalem and, lastly, the English - of the Malta scene, however, will not brought its own lore, language and way of enable them to look into the heart of life in its wake. Most of these left their things or to understand the working of the imprint on local tradition and, in their Maltese mind in its various manifestations. turn, underwent changes in the process of It takes a much longer period to get into adaptation to the conditions of the country touch with the inner life of the people and and subsequent adjustment to the discover the varied structure of their traditional pattern of Maltese life and folklore as it has evolved in the course of thought. The result has been an extremely centuries. variegated form of folk-culture constituting a distinctive element of Malta's national identity. Birth and Infancy Even a short stay in Malta will enable visitors - especially those from a Northern Maltese tradition has preserved the climate - to notice certain features of memory of several rites of passage · the local scene. They are struck by the characteristic of a pre-industrial compactness of the buildings, the absence community. From the cradle to the grave a of chimneys and slanting roofs, the series of time-honoured customs marked prevalence of balconies. They will note an the main events of human life. Many pious eye - the protective eye of Osiris beliefs and practices were associated with painted on the bows of Malta's the birth of a child. When the delivery was

181 difficult, the mother borrowed a withered if she failed to do so the child would take plant known as Il-Warda tal-Passjoni (The more than three months to start keeping his . Passion Flower) which was put into some head erect. The other belief was that the water. Popular belief claimed that the placenta or afterbirth (M. is-sekonda or mother was delivered of her child as soon selibitha) must be left in the rain till it is as the branches of the dried plant opened washed away, or be buried in the soil and out. The help and protection of certain water poured on it; if this is not done the - St Lukarda, St Blaise, St baby will suffer from skin eruptions. Raymond, St Spiridion of Corfu, St Weaning generally took place when the Calogero and St Victor - were especially child was twelve months of age, hence the invoked during childbirth. Delivery often saying: It-tnax fatttim, i.e. at the twelfth took place in a small room known as month one must wean the baby. To wean 1-alkova, 'the alcove', which served as a their young, mothers smeared their nipples labour or delivery room. with the juice of the aloe plant (M. The birth of a girl was not as welcome sabbara) which tastes bitter. as that of a boy. It was considered advis­ To ward off the harmful effects of the able to have the baby baptized as soon as evil eye, children are made to wear amulets possible, one reason being that if, in the form of a horn, a cowrie shell (M . . unfortunately, the child died before it was balibulia), or a holy medal hung round the baptized it would go to . When the child's neck. Some blessed olive leaves and, christening took place within twenty four up to a few years ago, a piece of candle hours it was believed that a soul was freed used in church in Holy Week known as from Purgatory. So long as the baby xemglia tat-tniebri, 'candle of the remained unbaptized it was not considered Tenebrae', were als_o considered effective. ! to be a Christian, but a Turk. In some On Saturday, at Qormi, children localities, the unbaptized child was laid in who took an unduly long time to walk the cot facing left. After the christening, were made to stand up and to try and walk however, the midwife could put the baby at the Gloria. either on his back or facing right. The child's hiccup was formerly cured by Up to the 16th century the Gallican rite the mother with the utterance of the of baptism by immersion was practised in following lines, which were reputed to have some parishes. In 1575 Mgr Pietro Duzina, the effect of transferring the child's hiccup the Apostolic Visitor, prohibited the prac­ to someone else: tice on account of its unhygienic effects. Solluzzu buzzu, Traditionally, the first children are named Mur gliand min jobgliodni; after their grandparents, the deceased ones 'K m'gliandix min jobgliodni taking precedence over those still alive. A Erg'ejja gliandi. child born with a caul (M. bil-borqom) is 0 nasty hiccup, believed to grow up exceptionally strong Go to someone who hates me; and invulnerable. Old fishermen will tell And if there's none who hates me Return to me. you that if you keep a piece of caul on you the sea will have no power over you, the A similar Sicilian formula given by reason being that the caul in reality forms Giuseppe Pitre runs as follows: part of another human being. Suggiuzzu, sugguzzieddu, From the Child Health Clinics two Ramuzza ri funtana, interesting folk-beliefs were communicated Vattinni ni to mamma, Va' viri s'idda t'ama. to the present writer in 1945. At Mosta and Si t'ama, statti dda. Tarxien it was held that the mother of a S'un t'ama, veni cca. newly-born baby has to eat a hen's neck Hiccup, little hiccup, and head on the day following childbirth; Little branch of the fountain, Go to your mother, The Holy Virgin is thy Mother, See if she loves you. The child is thy Father ... Go to sleep! If she loves you, stay with her, The Christian inspiration and wording of If she does not love you, come here. this lullaby links it up with similar compo­ When the child loses his first tooth, he is sitions in nearby Sicily, but the word Laam urged not to leave it lying about but to or Naam, from Arabic nam 'to sleep', bury it in a flower pot. It is believed that, betrays also an earlier Semitic influence. as a new plant emerged from the Nursery rhymes introduce the child to flowerpot, so a new tooth emerges from the first wonders of life. Children the child's gum to replace the buried one. experience their first journey on their These beliefs and practices are closely parents' knees as they are rocked to and related to similar concepts and customs fro to the accompaniment of a special reported from North African and other, -rhyme beginning with the lines: Arabic-speaking countries (, Algeria, Palestine) as well as in Sicily and Banni bannozzi, Gej it-ta ta gej ... among some other Mediterranean people. On the child's first anniversary a special Clap, clap your hand For Daddy's coming ... ceremony, known as quccija, is held. This is a special party to which relatives and which closely resemble those of the friends are invited, and when the company corresponding Sicilian rhyme is assembled, if the child is a boy, they give Manu manuzzi ... him articles such as corn and comfits, Veni tu ta ta . :. jewels, money, an inkstand, ·beads, as well as the English exhortation a sword, etc., and if a girl, needles, silk, Clap hands! Clap hands! ribbon, and similar articles. The child's Till Daddy comes home ... choice is thought to determine the Very few children's rhymes reach up to the profession or character he will develop standard of the lullaby mentioned above. A when he or she grows up. If the boy few, however, are quite serious in tone and chooses com, it is a sign of generosity; if content. One well-known stanza, in par­ he prefers the inkstand, he is destined for ticular, reflects the people's preoccupation trade or the Bar; if he seizes the sword, it with the lack of sufficient rain in Malta: is believed that he will become a soldier, Aglimel, xita, aglimel, and so on. This divination ceremony seems Halli jinbet il-liaxix; to be gaining favour once more among a Il-liaxix intuh lill-mogliza wide circle of Maltese society. U 1-moglii;a ttina 1-lialib; Gliandi nagliga mmur nirgliaha Bis-suf tagliha naglimel qmis. Lullaby - Children's Rhymes Rain, rain, rain, That the grass may grow; A traditional lullaby or cradle song We shall give the grass to the goat And the goat will give us milk; It survived up to some years ago. runs into I'll take out my sheep to graze some sixteen stanzas making up an And I'll make me a shirt of her wool. exquisite piece of popular composition, Incidentally, this presents a sharp rich in imagery and poetic feeling, opening contrast to the English nursery rhyme in with the following lines: which English children drive off rain far Orqod, orqod, ibni, orqod away to Spain: Fil-benniena tal-liarir .. .Laam ! Dik ommok ii-Madonna Rain, rain, go to Spain, Missierek Gesu Bambin ... Laam! Never show your face again. Sleep, sleep, little child In a few rhymes one can trace a definite In the cradle made of silk ... Sleep! link with a probable Semitic stream of

183 thought. Thus, the opening lines of a Some games show signs of native rhyme heard at Birkirkara during the last freshness and vitality, while others reflect war, i.e. outside influences, mainly Sicilian, and, in more recent ones, English. The very names Tat-ti/a tu/a! X'kilt illejla? by which some games are known, such as - Hobz u gbejna! faraboj (It. fare a boia), it-tigiega Minnfuq? l-gnamja, 'the blind hen', recalling the - Terz ilma ... Italian game fare a mosca cieca and the Thou of the long dress! English blind man's buff, immediately What have you eaten tonight? suggest the probable origin of the games. - Bread and a small cheese. In the case of the game known as Ciknatur And after that? - A measure of water ... a French origin has been suggested, from chacun a (son) tour, 'every one in his have a direct relationship with the following turn'. Furthermore, under direct British rengaine populaire from Lebanon given by influence other games have been assimilated M. Feghali in his Syntaxe des Parters and given a Maltese garb. Such are the Arabes actuels du Liban (, 1928, games known as Master, explained by J. p.467): Aquilina in his Maltese-English Dictionary Wain kent el-bdrha (Vol.2, 1990, p. 790) as "a game consisting 'end" 'ehte satha.. in throwing a heavy flattish stone at a :f!S td 'mtak Gebne m{i/fJa small standing stone with coins placed on it or under it", gardinaw (Eng. guarding Where were you yesterday? At my sister Salha's house. out?), the English game 'hopscotch', a What did she give you to eat? popular pavement game in both towns and Salted cheese. villages of Malta and Gozo under the name of passju, and the words kikks, uttered in Children's Games a game of marbles when one marble hits another, and gakk (pl. gakkijiet) [Eng. One can still find a diversity of jack], a marble used in a children's game. traditional games among children of school In addition, the use of such words as age. It is a pity that Maltese games of the gastell, 'castle' (Sic. casteddu) in games playground type do not figure in the involving the use of glass beads or nuts, or organised play activities of the pupils. of brilli, 'skittles' (It. birilll), no less than These are boys' games and girls' games, certain game-rhymes with foreign sounding and in many instances counting out and words such as siamo sette and in giro in other rhymes add to the zest of the games. giro ngella suggest earlier or long-standing Quarrels between children at play are made contacts and links with Sicily and . up by crossing the little fingers of their right hands while they say: First Communion and Pad kulaci, II-Madonna fuq rasi; Confirmation Kristu janbini U I-Madonna ssibni; In a predominantly Catholic country Kristu fuq I-altar such as Malta, First Communion and Qed ibierek it-tfal zgnar. Confirmation constitute important rites of Peace between us, passage, providing occasions of great joy The Holy Mother over my head; both to the children receiving these Christ hides me away Sacraments and to their parents. A special And the Holy Mother finds me; Christ on the altar dress is worn for the occasion. After the Blesses the little children. church ceremony, the children go to the

184 local premises of the MUSEUM, a lay which were engraved two hands joined in religious organization which prepares token of fidelity, while she, for her part, children for these Sacraments, where they reciprocated with a handkerchief edged are given breakfast, a bag of sweets ·and a with lace. small present. For Confirmation they On the day of the wedding, musicians receive, instead, an ice cream and sweets. and singers celebrated in verse the virtues A larger party, attended by relatives and of the happy couple, and handfuls of friends, awaits the children when they get grain, nuts and wheat were showered on home. Holy pictures with the child's name them on their return from the church for printed on the back are distributed on both the nuptial feast. The guests usually stayed occasions. The child is usually taken to a for the wedding banquet, to which they photographer and the photograph is then often contributed in kind - capons, wine, framed and put in a prominent place and etc. The bride ate in a separate apartment, prized ever after as a happy remembrance but after the repast she would come and sit of childhood. Nowadays a video camera­ near her husband, and drink out of the man is often hired to shoot the salient same cup. There was also dancing with parts of the church ceremony and of the castanets after the Spanish fashion. In the party. intervals the guests threw presents into the lap of the bride, who sat at the top end of the room. Eight days after the wedding, Marriage Customs and not before, the bride would leave her father's house (M. il-narga) and be Ancient marriage rituals have suffered received with due pomp and ceremony by rapid and successive changes since the first her husband in their new home. decades of the present century, with the Courtship and marriage rituals have result that modern marriage customs in changed considerably, especially since the Malta largely conform to the rites and inter-War years (1920-1940). Under direct practices of other European countries. British influence the bestman and the However, the 18th century historians G.A. bridesmaid have made their appearance Ciantar and Agius De Soldanis, followed and worked their way down to all classes by various 19th century writers, have left of the population. And with the new us a clear picture of the older ritual. We customs came fresh beliefs and taboos. read, for example, that a marriageable Should the bridegroom see the bride's dress daughter was hardly consulted at all in the before the wedding day, bad luck is sure to choice of her husband. A young man's follow. To avoid the effects of the evil eye, first indication that he could pay court to a the last stitch in the bride's dress must be daughter of the house was a pot of sweet made by the dressmaker shortly before the basil placed on a stone bracket on the bride puts it on. Some people also believe outer wall of the house where the girl that the bride should not make her own lived. He usually employed an old woman dress as this may bring her bad luck. as an intermediary (M. nuttaba) to arrange The transition to today's usages has the match. When his suit has been accepted, taken place in stages over a fairly long the contract signed and the dowry period. Up to within living memory, stipulated, the young man sent his beloved according to the head dress worn by the a present of a fish with a gold ring in its bride, people could t~ll that she was mouth. Then followed the betrothal feast married (i) bil-gnonnella, with the old­ (M. il-kelma or ir-rabta) when the bride fashioned faldetta - now gone out of use was first introduced to her future husband - in which case she wore a whole corded in the presence of parents and friends, and silk or black costume, (ii) bil-kappell, with he would offer her an engagement ring, on the hat, usually wearing a faun or silver-

185 grey dress, or (iii) bil-mant, with a white majority of the guests present in church for veil, dress and train. Since World War II the wedding ceremony are relatives or the veil has come into general use. friends of the couple. Those invited by the If either the bride or the groom groom sit on the right hand side. In happened to be in mourning, the bride addition to, or instead of bridesmaids, the usually wore a hat instead of a veil. bride may have one or more flower girls. Among the upper classes, if the bride is a The groom, bestman, the father of the widow, she puts on a lilac, pink or cream bride and groom and the ushers all wear gown. When the bride wore the glionnella, . tails. The groom carries a top hat and or a hat, the groom put on a simple, black gloves during much of the ceremony and or Navy blue suit. Otherwise he wears a the reception. In the church the hired frac or cutaway. photographer or, nowadays, video The wedding reception may be of two cameraman and his assistant are busy kinds: (a) bit-trattament, with waiters shooting the most important scenes for the carrying various rounds (M. passat1) of wedding film. drinks, sweets and other delicacies to the The same writer observes that in most guests, who are seated round the walls of a cases the reception takes place at the local hall or a yard, or (b) bir-ripo (Fr. repas), club or other hired premises. After in which case the guests gather round the changing into their going away clothes the table, sometimes extravagantly laid out couple are carried shoulder high by with all imaginable kinds of sweets, relatives and friends and are encouraged to savouries, drinks etc., and help themselves. catch hold of each other and kiss three The bride, assisted by the groom, cuts times. Finally they drive off, generally in the wedding cake, which has now come the groom's car, which his friends have into general use, and then makes her way covered with wet flour or foamy shaving among the guests, offering pieces of cake cream, etc. The guests then leave after to the males, while the groom looks after congratulating the bride's parents and the females. A smaller cake is given as a thanking them for inviting them. Upper present to each of the witnesses. At class couples generally spend their country weddings there was no wedding honeymoon abroad. cake. The newly married couple received two heart-shaped tarts (tal-marmorata) which they passed on as a present to the Death and Funeral Customs witnesses. Instead of grain and nuts, rice is showered nowadays on the newly-weds The death and funeral customs of the before they leave for the honeymoon. ancient Maltese presented various features Jeremy Boissevain, a well known that look rather strange to our modern way anthropologist, has noted other details of of thought. When a man died, hired present-day marriage ritual in his Paper women mourners known as newwielia, ''Changing Betrothal and Marriage dressed in long mourning cloaks, entered Ceremonies in Malta", read at The Life the house, singing the praises of the Cycle - SIEF's Third Congress, held deceased in low, surrowful voices. They between April 8-13, 1987 in Zurich, would cut vine branches and run through Switzerland. The couple spend a period of all the rooms, overturning the flower-pots 'talking' to each other, without the on the window-sills and smashing some of parents' knowledge, before they become the ornamental furniture. They then went formally engaged and have their rings into the room where the corpse lay, blessed by a priest. At the engagement surrounded by female relatives dressed in party they receive as presents many useful black and heavily veiled. The newwielia items for household and kitchen. The wept, beat their breasts, and cut off locks

186 of their own hair, which they placed in the death of parents, formerly observed for coffin. Boiled corn was distributed on that two years, has now been reduced to some day to all the relatives, and they cut off the few days, or weeks. Business premises are hair of their horses' tails. For three days sometimes closed, and a notice affixed to they would light no fire in the kitchen, but the door with English and, formerly, relatives and friends or neighbours sent Italian wording: Family mourning - Lutto meals in to the family. The women di f amiglia. In rural areas some people still remained indoors for forty days; the men keep away from festas, theatres, dances went out, unshaven, on the eighth day. and merrymaking. For many years the The mourning period lasted one or two coffin was carried in a horse-drawn years, according to the degree of carriage. Class distinctions were reflected consanguinity. in the kind of funeral chosen by the family Although the general practice of these· of the deceased - tal-prima, 'first class', rituals was not resumed after the of with richly decorated carriage drawn by 1676, some of them survived, in transmuted four horses sporting a black feather on form, up to the present century especially their head; tas-sekonda, 'second class', in Gozo and in some villages in Malta. providing only a carriage and pair, and tal­ Mirrors and looking glasses in the room povri, for the poorer classes, having just where the body was lying were covered, the bare essentials. White coffins, and some families even removed, or turned indicating purity or chastity, were used for round both furniture and pictures hanging unmarried women. Black carriages were on the walls. Door knockers were also invariably used, but babies were laid in a removed, or draped with black crepe; white coffin artd carried in a white housedoors were kept closed for several carriage. As from April, 1970 the motor days, while neighbours half shut their own hearse replaced all other funeral out of respect for the bereaved family. conveyances. Window blinds were pulled down for some Wreath laying on the graves is generally months or else linen sheets replaced practised, but some people object to these window curtains. A dish of salt was usually floral tributes at the funeral and they try to placed on the belly of the dead body in the discourage the custom by including, in the belief that the salt in the dish prevented the obituary notice published in the Press, the corpse from swelling through early words: "No flowers by requests, but decomposition. This custom, first noted by donations to (a charity) will be A. Cremona in 1922, is shared with other appreciated". Sympathy cards are sent by ethnographically unconnected people, for it friends to the family of the deceased, who was not only practised by the of acknowledge the condolences by sending Algeria but also survived in a them printed epitaphs often carrying a corresponding usage in Cumberland rural photograph of the deceased. districts up to the present century. For more than a century now mourning customs have tended to become simpler Costume and less complex. The Maltese word for mourning is vistu, whence vistuz, 'in Dress and costume are another mourning', obviously derived from Sicilian important feature of ancient folk-life in · visitu with its twofold meaning, i.e. purtari Malta. Early travellers' accounts contain lu visitu, 'to put on mourning', and tiniri many allusions to peculiarities of Maltese visitu, 'to receive complimentary visits of dress, a common feature being that, until sympathy". This latter custom has now well into the latter half of the 18th century, practically gone out of use in Malta. the women of Malta went about veiled, Wearing of a full mourning dress on the like Oriental women. In 1776, Maltese

187 ladies, who were always attended by a of Cooking" in the Times of Malta of black slave, dressed exactly like her March 22, 1955, he said mistress but in inferior quality material, "During my long residence in France I discovered that plotted to discard the old-fashioned, the majority of our dishes are the specialities of one Sicilian-style dress and to adopt French French province or another, and in my travels fashions. Thefaldetta, or glionnella, which through Spain, Italy, Austria and Southern Germany I was always struck by the similarity between the fare was considered the national head-dress up· of country inns and our own culinary productions to the period between the Wars, has now sometimes considered as specifically Maltese''. gone out of use. In his book Malta: An The historical explanation he suggested is Account and an Appreciation (Harrap, that these savoury dishes from so many 1949, p.26), Sir described it as different countries of Western "a voluminous hood of rich silk - black everywhere came to us save in the villages of Zabbar and Zejtun, where it is "from the kitchens of the Knights' auberges, the blue and is called xurqana - stiffened inside the top Grand Master's palaces and the country residences of edge by a piece of cardboard about a yard long, one the dignitaries of the Order. The Knights, noblemen end of which rests on the head, while the other end brought up on large country estates, naturally has to be held. Originally, it was really, like the preferred their regional cooking to what Malta had to Turkish charshaf, a skirt or petticoat (which is what offer in this respect. So it seems quite likely that they the word glionnella means) thrown up over the head. brought over their own cooks, especially for the Later it was curtailed, for which reason it is auberges where they were bound by their rule to dine sometimes called nofs glionnella, a half skirt; but it is in hall three or four times a week,. .. These cooks had still cut to show the placket-hole - in point of fact, Maltese aids, and these in turn passed on the recipes half the placket-hole - of the garment from which it of the best regional dishes of the to Maltese has sprung". families ... " bne may add that, according to the Cookery Notizia de/la Sacra Infermeria published in Rome in 1713, the hospital diets prescribed Turtling to Maltese cookery, we find that to the Infirmary patients contained various the vocabulary of local food presents the items - soups, meat and poultry, pattern of Semitic words for primitive vegetables and sweet dishes - that survive kinds of food and Romance loan-words for to this day in many a humble household in the more refined cooked foods: exx. liobz, the villages of Malta and Gozo. And after 'bread' (Ar. khubz); ftira, 'any disc-like the Knights left Malta in 1798, as a result bakery product that is flat and round' (Ar. of trade and travel links with Sicily and fatira); gobon, 'cheese' (Ar. gubn); sfinga, Italy, of contacts with Italian political 'battered fish portions fried in oil' (Ar. refugees during and after the Risorgimento, 'asfanga); maqrui, 'date-filled pastry fried and of direct British influence, fresh in oil' (Ar. maqrilt); kawlata, 'a kind of elements have been added, including the vegetable soup with pork' (It. cavolata); English Christmas turkey, cakes and imqarrun, 'macaroni' (It. maccherom); puddings, to make up the rich variety of torta, 'pie' (It. torta); qubbajt, 'nougat' Maltese cooking that we have today. (Sic. cubbaitu); irkotta, 'a milk substance resembling cottage cheese' (Sic. and It. ricotta); pudina, 'pudding' (Eng. pudding) The 'Festa' and minestra, 'vegetable soup' (It. minestra). The ever-popular pastizz, known The Maltese f es ta is an occasion of great locally in English as "cheesecake", derives rejoicing, enlivened by illuminations, from Italianpasticcio. feastings, fireworks, water regattas and ·The late Vincent Bugeja stressed the other open air entertainments. No other eclectic character of the dishes laid on aspect of Maltese life is as full of warm Maltese tables. Writing on "Maltese Style external appeal as thefesta, which is a

188 flourishing institution that has evolved next of kin of saints, or statuary groups gradually in the course of the last four representing some episode in the 's centuries. life. In every town and village of Malta and Here and there, at improvised counters Gozo special celebrations are held each or from fast-food vehicles, nougat (M. year in honour of the patron saint. With qubbajt) and other dainties are sold. On the exception of a few localities, these the eve of the feast a great display of festivities nowadays take place between fireworks starts at about 11 p.m., to the May and September, the so-called "festa­ admiration of thousands of spectators who season". As a result of this arrangement pack the square and the overlooking the f es ta is generally celebrated on a terraces and balconies or, in certain places, different date from that assigned to the watch the spectacle from the sea in boats. Saint in the Church's liturgical calendar. On the day of the feast the whole family Its organization is ·the result of the and one or more guests of honour people's efforts, voluntary work and assemble at noon to partake bf the contributions. Feverish preparations for the specially rich fare prepared for the festa are fanned by the rivalries of the occasion. And people put on a new dress, ka:tini or band-clubs of which there are or a new pair of shoes, for the feast! two in most towns and villages. The local The great event of the f es ta is the bands play on two or more days during the procession with the Patron Saint's statue week preceding the feast, while visiting through the streets of the town or village. bands play on the eve and on the feast day There is a good deal of noise and glare, proper. They march through the main but the rejoicing reaches its peak when the streets and finally take their place on a statue is about to re-enter the church. This stand built in the middle of the square, is called the briju. There are deafening surrounded by a crowd anxious to hear the shouts of evviva, 'long live'; the bands musical excerpts selected for the occasion. play, while the firing of crackers, rockets There is an unmistakable festive air and petards mix with the peal of the about the place onfesta-day. The bells ring church bells and the cries of the vendors of merrily. Walking through the streets, hung nougat, ice-cream and cheesecakes. with flags, banners, paper decorations and Since the last war the festa celebrations baskets of flowers one notices that the in many localities have been expanded so facades of the houses have been neatly as to include a noon band-march and whitewashed recently for the occasion, and parade during which youths and others that the doors and windows as well as the demonstrate wildly. It has also become balconies are freshly decorated. customary for families and friends from In a few localities which were particularly the same neighbourhood to go to the affected by the Great Sieges of 1565 and seaside on the morrow of the feast. This 1940-45 one can see wooden pillars, topped outing is often an elaborate form of picnic by life-sized statues, arms and other (M. xalata) with decorated cars and buses, trophies recalling the two sieges. However, and enlivened with the playing of guitars the majority of statues which surmount the or accordions, lots of fun, loud singing, wooden pillars lining the streets in most dancing and plenty to drink. places in Malta are those of angels painted · in attractive colours, holding electric brackets and emblems of the saint whose Carnival festa is being celebrated. Other· statues portray saints, popes, bishops, Doctors of In addition to the f esta there are the Church, etc. who were in some way calendar customs whose recurrence ensures connected with the saint. Others depict the a break in the routine of daily life during

189 the year. Carnival is undoubtedly the most elements that helped to maintain and colourful of all public entertainments in spread the tentacles of the Carnival Malta - an officially sponsored period of tradition in the past. A few have been carefree merrymaking. Historically it can retained, or are being revived, though their be traced back to the early 1400's. significance has been lost. Up to some Encouraged in various ways by the Grand years ago this folk festival was ushered in Masters of the Order of St John of by the Parata dance on the morning of Jerusalem (1530-1798) Carnival declined in Carnival Saturday. This is an ancient the 19th century but its revival in 1926 Maltese sword-dance commemorating the made it possible for the folk entertainment Maltese victory over the Turks in the Great to survive the period of British Rule Siege of 1565. The dance was once (1800-1964) as a strong living tradition. concluded by raising a little girl, known as The outdoor festivities in Valletta.are the 'Bride', splendidly arrayed and girt organised by the National Festivities with a small dagger - as a sign of the Committee appointed each year by the Christian victory. Under the Knights the Ministry of Youth and Culture, and over Parata had a special significance because the years Carnival has become a major the rule was "No Parata, no Carnival". As tourist attraction. Prizes are awarded for soon as the Grand Master granted the best artistic dances, costumes, floats permission to hold Carnival and signified .and grotesque masks. Between 1972 and his approval to the Maltese wa,iting in the 1987 Carnival was held in May, but in Palace Square through a Knight of the 1988 it was restored to its traditional Grand Cross, various companies of da~cers period, and celebrations now take place ranged through the City and performed during the five days immediately preceding their mock fight to the accompaniment of Lent. Some innovations have also been strolling music. Every effort should be introduced in recent years, including the made to restore the Parata to its pristine shifting of merrymaking on the last importance as it is one of the few surviving Carnival day (Tuesday) from Valletta to links in the chain of Moresca dances that . Carnival festivities in Gozo, first were once popular throughout most organized in 1952, follow the main lines of countries of Southern and Central Europe. the Malta Carnival. Another entertainment known as During the Merry Monarch's reign Kukkanja (Cockaigne) was introduced by Valletta presents a unique spectacle. Grand Master Zondadari in 1721 but did Grotesque masks and triumphal cars follow not outlive the Order. A crowd assembled the majestic float of King Carnival in a on the Palace Square on Carnival Monday regular train through the main streets of and at a given signal attacked the sausages, the capital. The balconies and roofs of the hams and live animals tied ~o the long houses are full to overcrowding,. while the beams fixed against the guard house and streets below are thronged with people covered over with branches of trees in leaf. from all over Malta eagerly watching the The provisions became the property of Carnival defile. The boisterous enthusiasm those who, having seized them, were able of the young .men and women manning the to carry them off in safety through the floats infect with carefree mirth the crowd. Revivals of this folk-entertainment spectators lining the route or occupying took place in 1960-1962 and, more vantage points. Small groups of men successfully, in 1992 and 1993. dressed as females, and vice-versa, or clad Traces of an ancient folk-drama known in other carnivalesque attire, indulge in as Qarcilla, together with the burning of fun and frolic among the bystanders. King Carnival on the last day of the Beneath the surface of the present festivities, survived up to some years ago. spectacle older motifs linger on, folk Although these and other folk elements

190 belong to the past now, the Carnival spirit highest form achieved in the papier mtiche lives on unabated. technique which is believed to have been introduced to Malta by a Sicilian lay brother whose name has not come down to Holy Week us. This tradition has evolved over a long Holy Week traditions in the Maltese period. By the end of the 16th century the Islands present features of strong vitality lay confraternity of St Joseph attached to and of ever-expanding popular ritual. the Friary of Franciscan Minors in Rabat Apart from the offices of the church, the was the first to organize such a procession people visit the sepulkri or altars of repose in Malta, followed by its counterpart found in practically every church, going attached to the Valletta friary in 1645. from one church to another on what is During the 18th century the custom spread known as the Round of the Seven to eight other localities, i.e. Vittoriosa Churches. V. Busuttil in Holiday Customs (c.1700), (c.1719), Zebbug (c.1742), in Malta (6th ed., 1922, p.30) describes this Zejtun (c.1742), Cospicua (c.1700), Naxxar custom as "a very striking scene" and adds: (c.1750), Qormi (c.1764), and Luqa "Hundreds, from every rank and class of the people, (c.1795). In the 19th century similar generally in couples or in groups, are seen most progress was recorded in four parishes, i.e. devoutly performing the visit of the churches; reciting Ghaxaq (c.1820), Rabat, in Gazo (c.1830), all the time as they move from one church to Mosta (1866) and Hal Gharghur (1866). another". During the present century this In many localities, following the example development continued both in Goza - of the Oratory of the Dominican Nadur (1913), Xaghra (1914), Zebbug (Blackfriars) priory in Valletta and of the (1918) and at the Gazo Cathedral (1968) Pius X Oratory in Cospicua, a replica of and at Paola, in Malta, between 1944-1976. the Last Supper scene is put up for public A set of statues commissioned for viewing. In some localities a Passion Play , in Gozo, between 1922 and 1924, is staged, with actors drawn mostly from has never been taken out in procession. the village community or from among the These "mystery groups" were membership of the club or other successfully grafted on to an already organisation concerned. As a folk existing, deep-routed local tradition, for production, the one at Gharb, in Gozo, the Passion drama had, since the Middle which featured regularly for some years Ages, exercised the mind of our folk and (1940-48) deserves special mention. found expression in the form of a However, the Good Friday processions considerable repertoire of folk-prayers built with life-sized images representing the main on rich imagery and unsophisticated events of the Passion and Death of Our language, which reflect the people's Lord form the characteristic feature of reaction to the events of the Passion Holy Week celebrations in Malta and Drama. Nowadays these folk-prayers are Gozo. There is an air of accentuated all but forgotten, but they link with similar suffering and martyrdom about these compositions and traditions from Sicily, statuary groups recalling similar scenes in Central Italy and Spain. Southern Italy, Sicily and Spain. Their effectiveness is heightened by the grim realism of the gory wounds and ghastly Christmas pallor of the suffering Christ no less than by the daggers in the bleeding heart of the The modern Christmas scene in Malta Mater Dolorosa. As specimens of Maltese includes brightly-lit shop windows, a popular art, these statues represent the variety of toys and sweets, artificial

191 Christmas trees and carol singing mingled midnight service on Christmas Eve with a profuse exchange of greetings. bagpipers played in the principal churches, Homey ring-cakes (M. qagfiaq tal-gnasel) striking a genuinely pastoral note, while are displayed everywhere as a local during the novena preceding Christmas Christmas speciality. One can see artistic, they performed in the streets. There were often mechanised cribs in various localities also rustic games in which players used and, since 1964, street decorations and nuts and other seasonal produce, while illuminations in Valletta and other centres age-old proverbs relating to the Christmas have been introduced. More characteristic, period in the agricultural year have and of local growth, is the procession, held withstood the test of centuries. for the first time in 1921, staged in most Some country people still indulge in a towns and villages, in which children take curious form of weather-forecasting. From part, carrying an image of the Baby Jesus St Lucy's Day (Dec. 13) till Christmas Eve and singing sweet carols in Maltese. A talk they regard the sky with attention, note the on the Nativity is then recited by a boy - way of the wind and other signs known a custom mentioned in the local Press as a only to themselves. In this way they believe novelty in 1883. they can establish a reliable forecast for the The Christmas tradition in Malta centres coming year, the weather on December 13 round the presepju, or crib. Every year the ruling the proximate months of January, M.U.S.E.U.M. Christian Doctrine Society and so on until December 24, which is distributes some 20,000 small cribs to believed to rule the weather of December children who attend their religious doctrine twelve months later. The signs observed on classes. Exhibitions of cribs are held these twelve days are called l-irwiegel, 'the annually in Valletta and other localities, rules'. Analogous beliefs and usages are while the National Festivities Committee found in Sicily and various other countries. organizes crib competitions every year. Finally, a surviving custom associated Since the early Sixties a Live Crib at Lija with the Christmas crib links up with has provided a unique attraction, with certain pre-Christian rites known among children dressed as shepherds, and with live scholars as "Gardens of Adonis". Each donkeys, lambs, hens, ducks, pigeons etc. year, with the approach of Christmas, and After the Second World War the use of generally on December 8, Maltese children artificial Christmas trees spread to the sow wheat, barley, vetch and canary seed homes of the Maltese, together with Father in plates, which they keep in the dark and Christmas; as an added decoration for the water every two or three days. The plants festive season. Previously their use was soon shoot up, and the plates containing generally restricted to families of British them are then placed near the Child Jesus Service personnel and to some Maltese in churches and in the cribs set up in the hospitals. The custom had been slowly homes. Similar practices, observed also in gaining ground since at least 1887, when it Sicily, in Calabria and in Sardinia on is recorded that Prince George, later King different occasions, have been described as George V, attended a Christmas Tree a continuation, under a different name, of gathering held at the Governor's Palace of the worship of Adonis, who was a deity of San Anton. The presence of convalescing vegetation and especially of the corn. British and Allied troops in Malta, not to mention the many German prisoners of war during the First World War, also Other Customs helped to boost the custom. The Christmas festival in the past was These customs include the blessing of characterised by the music of bagpipes. animals, which takes place on the Sunday Folk memory in Gozo records that for the nearest to the 17th January (feast of St

192 Antony Abbot) at the door of St the Agrarian Society since 1854, and by Augustine's church at Rabat. Here the traditional horseraces in which the animals animals, mostly quadrupeds, are blessed by are ridden bare-backed. On the feast of St an Augustinian friar and they partake of Martin (first Sunday after November 12) some barley, which is placed in a tray for children receive a bag full of autumn them. In the time of the Knights the first produce - figs, nuts, chestnuts and animals that came up for the blessing were oranges. Space does not allow more than a the horses drawing the Grand Master's passing mention here of other periodical stately carriage. Nowadays a blessing ceremonies such as those on 8th September ceremony also takes place at Xaghra, in or on Candlemas Day, of popular Gozo. At Mosta the blessing is held a week iconography, including ex-votos found in later, on the parvis of the old church of St various churches and rural chapels, or of Antony, built in 1608, while at Naxxar it Blason Populaire, (collective nicknames). takes place in front of the oratory on one of the Sundays preceding the feast. Since 1987 the blessing of animals at Lija has Primitive Beliefs and been held near the old parish church in Practices Saviour Street. In recent years the custom has also spread to other localities but not Various primitive seasonal customs and necessarily linked to the cult of St Antony. beliefs still survive in folk-memory. Easter is associated with a special kind According to an old tradition, the oldest of pastry, known as figolla, which has woman (M. l-g!iaguza) living in the parish been described as "a flat baked dough, cut was thrown from the church steeple on the in the shape of a woman, a Turk, an eagle, mid-Lent Thursday. This corresponds to a horse, a star, or a basket, with one or the notions behind the beliefs in La more eggs, having the shell stained red or Vecchia di Quaresima and the practice of some other colour, embedded in its §.ega- Vecchia in Sicily and Italy. Up to a

centre ... " On Easter Sunday, processions few 0 years ago, the figure of a child stuffed with the statue of the Risen Christ are held with straw (M. trajbu) was cast into the in several parishes. From Vittoriosa and flames of the bonfires lit on the eve of the Cospicua, which have a deep-rooted Easter Feast of St John. On St John's Day (June tradition influenced by the Greek 24) village girls used to melt some lead and Rhodiotes who followed the Order to then pour it into a ve~sel filled with water. Malta from in 1530, the practice of According to the shape assumed by the carrying the statue at a run at certain lead when it cooled down and solidified, it specified spots of the traditional route has was foretold whether the girl would be spread to various localities in recent years. happy in her choice of a husband. On the first Wednesday after Easter, In addition to these customs, which are people flock to the fishing village of linked with various midsummer and to picnic there after witnessing divination practices in other countries, at Zejtun a procession which, according to there are some survivals of fertility rites. A tradition, was instituted centuries ago in heap of manure is often left standing in fulfilment of a vow for the deliverance of Maltese fields until it is carried away by Malta. Up to some years ago bonfires were the first rains. To this is given the symbolic ·lighted on St John's Eve (June 23), while name of 1-g!iarus, 'the bridegroom'. Ascension Day (M. Laps1) sees the opening Peasants sometimes leave a ring, the of the swi~ming season. The folk-festival symbol of marriage, on the branch of a of L-Imnarja on June 29 is marked by pear-tree in the belief that the tree will folk-singing at Buskett on the eve of the become more fruitful. Farmers were used feast, an Agricultural Show organized by to hang two puppets, representing a

193 Turkish man and woman, on their vines to As for the Maltese word magnmul, also ensure an abundant yield. meaning witchcraft and charm, this is Fear of the moon and its influence on "a synonym of the primitive sener and appears to be human beings lies behind various folk­ a mere version of the ltalo-Sicilian wordfattura and beliefs and practices. It is firmly believed of not such an old type as the former designation". that one should never curse the moon; Ancient Maltese myths are still rather, one should propitiate it, for designated by a Semitic terminology, otherwise it may cause a great deal of examples being hares, 'a ghostly guardian unhappiness. Various tasks connected with of the house or of any property', gftafrid, animals and husbandry are regulated by the 'evil spirit'' gnu/, 'wild beast'' wanx, 'ogre, phases of the moon. The March and August monster', lb/is, 'Satan'. Recalling that the moons are particularly recommended as a Arabic imprecatory expression Hamsa time to place eggs under brooding hens. j'gftajnek, 'five fingers in your eye' is also Olives should be picked with the new moon known by the Maltese, i.e. Gftajnek or during its first phase - and only when j'gnajnek, 'your eye in your eye', Cremona the North wind is blowing. The best time coµcludes that for planting palm-trees is when the moon is waxing. Unmarried girls were advised to "it is evident that ... all the Maltese expressions comb their hair in the light of the moon, indicating an elementary knowledge of the belief must have been chiefly derived from or highly influenced and in order to find a rich husband they by a Semitic tradition". were to hold a coin in their hand while they looked at the moon. There are various sayings connected with the moon's Riddles (Haga Moligaga) mysterious power. The .art of riddling, at one time indulged in by adults of all classes and looked upon Th~ Evil Eye as an accomplishment of royalty in biblical times has nowadays survived mostly The cause of evils such as misfortunes, ' . among children. A 'true' riddle is a accidents, illness or death is often attributed composition in which some creature or to the agency of a mischief-maker known as object is described in an intentionally . /-gftajn, 'the evil eye'. In 1923 A. Cremona obscure manner, the solution fitting all the wrote at some length about "Some Myths · characteristics of the description in the and Beliefs in Maltese Folklore" (, question, and usually resolving a paradox. Vol.III, pp.111-120). He considers the The following examples come to mind Maltese custom of fumigating with olive straightaway: leaves which have been blessed on as ''a typical christianized Haga mongaga: counterpart'' of an old heathen charm. The Aktar ma tiekol minnha exorcism is commonly carried out Aktar tikber. (Tarxien) "to free the house from the evil of a haunting spirit Me riddle, me riddle,: or from an illness afflicting a patient. It is also done The more you eat (take) from it after the recovery of the patient from a serious illness. The bigger it gets. Prayers are in the meantime also offered ... ". (Solution: a hole in the ground) The same writer explained that Hawn /iaga: "the Maltese word sener, meaning witchcraft, sorcery, Dejjem timxi rasha 'I isfel. answers to the Arabic sener, meaning also witchcraft, (Birzebbuga) sorcery, seduction, while the term gnajn, 'eye' and the derivative verb gnajjen, 'to bewitch' are A riddle: correspondingly the Arabic forms gnajn and gnajjen, Always walks on its head. having respectively the same meaning". (Solution: -A nail in your boot)

194 Haga mongaga: Archer Taylor (English riddles from oral Hamra namra - nar m'hijiex tradition, University of California Press, Hadra nadra - naxix m'hijiex 1951, pp.394, 790) explains that Tarmi 1-ilma - gnajn m'hijiex. (Tarxien) "the Levantine - Modern Greek, Arabic and Syriac versions exemplify best the ideas of begetting and Me riddle, me riddle: killing, and are probably derived from a common Though red as fire it is not fire, source ... These parallels are: Modern Greek: 'Water Green as grass but it is not grass, begets me and I feed in the sun; yet if I see my Gives out water but it is not a spring. mother, I die'; Arabic: 'Son of water and it dies on (Solution: Water Melon) touching water'; Syriac: 'It lives when taken out of water, it dies when put into water'." The descriptions which the rhyming The Maltese riddle for "Doors" runs as riddles give of their solutions are usually follows: phrased highly imaginatively in terms of Haga mongaga: something else. Thus, a bed is seen as a Bil-lejl ibusu 'I xulxin, person who gets tired at night and rests all Bi nhar miggeldin. day; the sky is a basket full of pears (roses) Riddle me riddle: which, when turned upside down, will not They kiss one another at night, fall; the clouds look like a bed sheet with They separate (lit. quarrel) during the day. patches but without any threads; the sea is With this one may compare the thought of as an old grumbler who makes corresponding Sicilian versions: (a) Lu love, or as a garden without trees or leaves juorno si talianu, La sira si vasanu. "By or flowers, whose fruit tastes exquisitely day they look at one another, by night they good; an onion is likened to a pretty white­ kiss one another", and (b) Lu juornu su' faced girl wearing a pink dress who will spartuti, La sira 'nzimmulati, "By day they make you cry if you ill-treat her; a cabbage are separated, at night they come is conceived as made up of numerous together''. The Tunisian version given by carpets set on top of each other, each more J. Quemeneur (Enigmes Tunisiennes, beautiful than the one before it. Such Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes, Tunis, images are perhaps the fittest introduction 1944) is close enough: 'ala zweyz akhwa I to poetry that a child can have. fel !fl it'anquou I fen-nhiir itjarqou. "Two Many notions underlying Maltese riddles brothers I By night they embrace I By day are similar to those adopted by riddlers they separate". Unlike proverbs, local both inside and outside Europe. In this riddles do not set out to teach or to lay respect one has to underline the historical down rules of conduct; their intention importance of Sicilian and Arabic nowadays is only to amuse. influences in the formation of Maltese riddling. Certain correspondences, verbal or other, appear to be so close as to call Proverbs for particular mention. Thus, the notion "Mother begets and kills Daughter (Son)" A rich legacy of proverbial lore has been appears in the following Maltese riddle: handed down orally, and age-old sayings are used frequently in everyday Haga moligaga: conversation, in which they are quoted Imwieled minn ommu, with the persuasive force of established Jitrabba bix-xemx, Jekk imiss m'ommu jerga' jmut. tradition and with the authority of an unwritten law. A few examples in English Me riddle, me riddle: translation are given here to illustrate this Born of Mother, branch of Maltese folklore: 1. The older Reared by the sun, you grow, the more you learn; 2. Don't If he touches his mother again he dies. (Solution: Salt) pollute the spring from which you may

195

J want to drink; 3. One man dies of Oral Poetry drunkenness, and another dies for want of a drop; 4. A sleeping man catches no fish; Oral poetry survives as a living tradition 5. If a man spits towards the sky, it will in Malta. H is still one of the main sources come down in his own face; 6. See whose of popular folk-entertainment. The Maltese daughter she is, and you will know what word designating orally performed poetry she is; 7. For the sake of rings and ear­ is gli.ana, or song, which covers a wide rings today she has eaten nothing; 8. He range of poems in sung form with musical who is born round will not die square; 9. accompaniment by guitarists. These folk A new bride whatever she touches smells compositions are of three types: sweet; 10. What the eye doesn't see, the 1) extemporised (M. spirtu pront) short heart doesn't grieve over; 11. He who eats (four-line) stanzas normally sung by the meat must also gnaw the bone; 12. Not individuals, or by a group of two or more everyone who beats his breast is a saint. singers as a song-duel which can take In 1972 the University of Malta published various forms - for example (a) hitting Professor J. Aquilina's A Comparative back, stanza for stanza, with guitar Dictionary of Maltese Proverbs containing interludes, or (b) an impromptu reply by more than 4,630 proverbs collected from oral the second man within the same quatrain and written sources. In the Introduction he immediately after the two lines presented pointed out that some Arabic proverbs are by the first singer - this is called glianja still current in the spoken language "in spite maqsuma, or 'broken or shared song'; of the nearly 1,000-year-old discontinuation 2) long elaborate narratives in verse, of direct contact with the Arabic world''. generally known as fatt (It. fatto, 'deed, Five years before he had already referred to event'), either on well-known local heroes the similarity between some Maltese and as well as on sensational or tragic events Arabic proverbs. (ballad type), or on recent humorous In his paper, written in 1967, entitled topics, and "Comparative Maltese and Arabic Pro­ 3) songs in high register (M. glianja fil­ verbs" (in Maltese Linguistic Surveys, Uni­ glioil), also known as la bormliza, i.e. versity of Malta, 1976, p.142), he wrote: Bormla style - Bormla being one of the "Of the whole collection of proverbs, comparatively three historic cities facing Valletta across very few are of Arabic origin, but the total list of the - short haiku-like correspondences in all the work is fairly impressive. poems normally sung by two· persons and Some of these proverbs are mixed in the sense that requiring a full voice capable of sustaining they may be Arabic and European at the same time, sometimes literally and sometimes approximately. long phrases. This style of singing has now · Here arises the question as to the criteria that must be practically died out. adopted to establish which is the original version. The characteristic form of Maltese folk Comparatively only a small number of Maltese quatrains is the four-line stanza, rhyming proverbs corresponds to Arabic ones because since a b c b, each line consisting mostly of 1090, when the Normans conquered Malta, the social context of our country moved in the direction of eight, sometimes seven syllables. The Sicily ... " argument used, whether serious or Further on in his paper Aquilina humorous, is followed closely by the explained that audience; clarity of expression in the "many Maltese proverbs, though couched in a performance is expected, no 1€ss than completely Arabic vocabulary, are the translation of correct rhyming and maintenance of Italian, and generally Sicilian proverbs, many of subject. Assonance rather than rhyme is which can be compared with those collected by the sometimes employed. In this respect famous Sicilian paremiologist Giuseppe Pitre Maltese quatrains have no connection with (1841-1916)". His final conclusion is that "when all is said there is no doubt that the greater paremiological the songs of Sicily, consisting mainly of heritage reached Malta via Sicily". eight hendecasyllabic lines. Giuseppe Pitre,

196 Folk musical instruments - the Rabbtiba, Tambourine and Zuqq (Bagpipes) - which have now gone out of use.

A traditional dance during the Independence festivities in 1964.

197 the well-known Sicilian folklorist, admitted but one short step. Two traditional folk­ this and asserted that 'the lyric of the dances have survived. One of them, known ... recalls faintly that of as /1-Parata, has already been mentioned. Sardinia, and has nothing in common with The dancers, making up two concentric the canzuna of Sicily'. However, the four­ circles, represent the besieging Turks and line single stanza is not unknown in Sicily, the defenders (Maltese and Knights). The and sometimes occurs in Greek and Spanish dance has three main movements. The popular poetry, while the same form and leader, dressed up as Grand Master, directs rhyme-scheme are employed by the boatmen the dance by means of a whistle. 11-Parata of Rabat and Sale in Morocco. was concluded with a final movement In 1953 a Folksong Competition whereby the Turks knelt down as a sign of organised by the present writer was held on defeat, the Maltese (or Knights) placing · the occasion of the popular /mnarja· folk­ their swords over the heads of the Turks. festival. It continued to be held over the The 'Bride' was then carried round on a following years and it is now recognised platform while she threw k.isses all around. that it had a lasting, salutary effect, 11-Maltija is considered to be Malta's Quoting from Ranier Fsadni's perceptive national dance. It is danced either in peasant article "The Modernity of Maltese Ghana" costume, known as Ta' Zepp u Grezz, these (Sunday Times, August 30, 1992): being characteristic peasant names, or, for ... It (i.e. gnana singing) became more elaborate ... formal occasions such as a royal visit, This formal elaboration was a consequence of the first celebrations of national importance, or Maltese Folklore festival, held in 1953, which not only charity balls at the President's Palace, in inspired the new rules (and conventions governing the 18th century costume, the ladies wearing composition of the extemporized quatrains) but also changed the way the gnannej regarded himself ... 1953 brocade dresses, with full skirts and bodices is the decisive date, for it set off a process which with battlements, and the gentlemen wearing changed the way gnana was perceived by the middle black velvet tights, long coats of the same classes and how the gnannejja came to see themselves period, lace fichus and white satin and the role they played ... They were now the subject of some attention from intellectuals, asked to sing at waistcoats. All the dancers - a leading festivals and hotels; and even sent abroad to represent couple and sixteen other couples - wear Malta on cross-cultural exchanges. Ghana as en entity white wigs. As the various movements are became mythologised, the soul of tradition which had called, couples do not move until the leader to be preserved ... " calls /mxu (Forward). At the conclusion of A new generation of folksingers and the dance each couple in turn approaches the guitarrists has indeed modernised the folk­ dais to honour the President. art and raised the standard of gnana The Maltija was most probably introduced performances. Many singers, or their to Malta as a Court dance in the later years supporters, possess their own tape­ of the 18th century. When the Knights left it recorders and exchange tapes containing was taken up by ·the 'folk' where it lingered recordings of their extemporised songs with on until it was revived by Maltese officers of emigrated friends in America, Canada or the Royal Malta Fencibles Regiment at the Australia. Occasionally, local singers tour Fancy Dress Ball given at the Palace by Lady towns and cities in Australia or Canada at Stuart, the Governor's wife, on February 18, the invitation of Maltese migrant 1844. communities. and modern mass media, such as cassettes, radio and TV also contribute to keep the tradition alive. Folk-Tales

Folk-Dance A rich heritage of folk-tales and legends has come down from the past. Unfortun­ From folk-singing to folk-dancing it is ately, the popular art of story-telling

198 has very much degenerated but enough Persians, Gonna in Palestine, Giucca in texts have been collected in the present Tuscany, and Giufa in Sicily. century, especially by the Jesuit Fr E. Magri, to establish the variety of types and motifs of the local folk-narrative Legends material. Most impressive are the tales of magic in which, as in the household tales The legendary material falls under three of the Brothers Grimm, we meet main headings: (a) historical, (b) religious, supernatural adversaries and helpers, and (c) treasure stories. Historical legends enchanted princes and talking animals. are by far the most numerous as well as Open-eyed dragons, guarding fair maidens the most important. They present the or golden apples, are fast asleep, while popular version of history, that is, history lions with closed eyes are fully awake. We not as it actually was but as the ordinary shudder at seven-headed dragons and people would like it to be, retaining only admire the Maltese Samson, whose the kernel of historical fact. Legends are strength lies not in his hair but in his tail often attached to particular place-names - a belief still common in these islands and other features of the landscape and where the general opinion is that a baby sometimes they are only an attempt to born with a hairy growth at the lower end explain the origin of a particular place­ of the spine will grow to be a very strong name (folk-etymology) which cannot man. There are interesting parallels with otherwise be accounted for. the Hercules cycle of Greek stories in the A crop of such legends preserves the tales of the Wise Woman's Son (M. Bin il­ memory of St Paul's Shipwreck, connected Gnarfa) and also specimens of the tales of with such place-names as San Pawl il­ King Solomon, so widespread in Banar (St Paul's Bay), (St Mediterranean countries. One of these Paul's Welcome), and Gnajn Ratul (The attributes to the boy Solomon, assisted by Apostle's Fountain). Another cycle of his much wiser sister, the use of the first legends centre on the figure of Count boat formed of the upturned skeleton of a Roger the Norman, who freed Malta from horse. the rule of the Arabs. The period of Numerous jokes and anecdotes (M. Turkish ascendancy and of Moslem corsair praspar) are also told. Among the activity - the days of the notorious Rajjes numskull stories stand out the humorous Dragut - has contributed a good number adventures of 'Gahan', a lovable character of legends, especially in Gozo, while the who does things topsy-turvy but invariably rule of the Knights of St John (1530-1798), manages to come out all the better for his together with the Inquisition, also figure in experience. His amusing adventures are still Maltese folk-memory. The hurly-burly days related to children: how he lost a chicken of the (1798-1800) are pea and earned a fortune, how he poured still remembered in legend and folk-song boiling water on his sister, how he sat on a while the period of British Rule grimy pot because his mother told him not (1800-1964) has produced mainly stories of to sit where other usually sit, so as to keep ghostly apparitions haunting old houses his suit clean, and, finally, how he pulled and fortified buildings such as Verdala the door off its hinges and dragged it all Castle and Fort St Angelo. the way to the church looking for his There are legends which centre on a mother, whose instructions to shut (lit. to religious personage, and stories told against pull) the door behind him he had obeyed a religious background with saints, church so literally. 'Gahan' is a Mediterranean sites, street crosses, niches and statues as folk-hero, called Si-Goli.a or Golia by the their subject-matter. In some of these one Arabs, Gha in , Gulia by the notes a popular attempt to attribute the

199 present site of a church to supernatural European. The latter element pervades intervention prevailing over human practically all aspects of present-day folk­ decisions, examples being the site of the life, being of more recent origin and parish church at Qormi, that of the chapel moulded over the past six centuries or so of Our Lady of Loreto in the limits of by contact mostly with Sicily, Italy and Gudja, in Malta and, in Gazo, the site o.f Spain, and with a lesser English strain the Cathedral Church and of Nadur parish introduced under British rule. church. The European element is also much In yet another type of legends we learn easier to identify, for the formative of treasure troves discovered through the contacts with Arab culture during the 9th- help of the family spirit (II-Hares). Such 13 th centuries were then interrupted and legends are generally connected with old under the Knights (1530-1798) exchanges houses dating from the days of the . could only take place in some measure Knights, houses in which a hidden treasure through the local slave population, through is associated with a murdered Knight who piracy or trade. Emigratiop. to North lived in the house. The disclosure of the Africa in the 19th century re-opened treasure may be subject to conditions that possible routes for cultural transmission at make it practically impossible to unearth it. the folk level. Otherwise, all outward Thus, 20 skudi lie buried under the traces of the preceding Arab heritage - principal gate of Imdina, destined to be this of course does not apply to the taken by that couple who after a long language - were practically obliterated by period of married life find nothing to the superimposition of richer and more complain of. Needless to say, no one has varied layers of European cultural ever taken the money, and the legend has elements. The influence of the Catholic given rise to the following humorous Church has also been a vital factor linking expression when referring to an unhappy Malta to Europe. couple: Ma jmorrux gliall-ghoxrin skud! Over the past 50 years or so the present (They won't go for the 20 skudi!) writer has studied the Maltese folklore By and large, the majority of Maltese material within the context of similar folktales and legends follow the main traditions recorded in countries on both stream of the European folk-tale but the sides of the Mediterranean. His general subject calls for further analysis on a conclusion is that the affinities of Maltese comparative basis. folklore, already clearly established with Sicily, Italy and Spain, can also be traced in the Arabic-speaking countries of the Conclusion Maglireb and the Middle East. The examples included in this chapter show that We have covered much of the ground the identification of other surviving Semitic making up the field of Maltese Folklore elements is important for a better and we have shown that Malta's appreciation of the unique synthesis with folkloristic heritage is definitely rooted in a the European cultures that has occurred in Mediterranean context. Its main constituent these islands. · elements are (i) Semitic, i.e. Arabic and (ii)

200 Bibliography

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