GWLGWL The word for Għawdex in Punic inscription Wirt Għawdex NEWSLETTER No 4/15 One eventful year has passed since I assumed the helm of ‘Wirt Għawdex’. It has been a very busy year and I must say that I am now slowly getting accustomed to the way this society is run and to the challenges which the presidency offers. I am trying to do my best not to delude you all! During this year, we have continued our various restoration projects, about which you will read in this newsletter. We have continued opening our sites to visitors, and our lecture programme has been continued. We have also provided the usual help to students who do their six form ‘systems of knowledge’ project with us and continue to reply, to the best of our abilities and according to our means to the Dr Paul G. Pisani, President various requests for help regarding the salvaging and preservation of our national patrimony. Our monthly committee meetings at ‘Dar il-Gvernatur’ have been held regularly. This year we have also embarked on a new initiative, that of organizing visits to prestigious exhibitions held in Malta. Our first attempt was a visit to the 1565 exhibition at the Palace in Valletta combined with a visit to Fort St Angelo. The response was very encouraging and we hope to give all of you more of the same. I would like to conclude my short message to thank all our members for their continuous support. I would also like to publicly thank the members of our committee for their selfless contribution of their precious free time for the running of our organization. Finally I would like to remind you to renew your membership for 2016. Your support is the lifeline of our society. Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of you! From the Secretary’s Diary…….. 6 th Form 2015/16 monthly Cultural Activities As in previous years, we are providing an op- portunity for 6th formers to visit our sites as part of their mandatory cultural activities. Students have already visited the Mgarr ix-Xini Tower and the St. Cecilia chapel where a short history of the site is given to them. September 2015 – ‘Concertini’ for Belgian VIPs at St. Cecilia’s Chapel The medieval chapel of St. Cecilia hosted the Schola Cantorum Jubi- late, a private youth choir which is currently celebrating its fifteenth anniversary. The Gozitan choir was invited by On Site (Events Agency in Malta) to perform a short recital to each of five groups of tourists, as part of a cultural excursion on our idyllic island. These groups were composed of Belgian VIPs from a prominent company. The recitals started from 9 in the morning until around 2 in the afternoon, with each of the five groups attending for the performance at the time allotted to them. The choral repertoire consisted of pieces a cappella in SATB amongst which ‘Tina l-Ħlewwa’ and ‘Nadurawk ja Ħobż tas-Sema’ (Caruana), Even Such is Time’ (Chilcott), ‘Ave Maria’ (Arcadelt) and ‘If Ye Love Me’ (Tallis) and classical pieces: ‘Panis Angelicus’ (Franck) and ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ (Mozart). Choir director and soprano Marouska Attard interpreted ‘O Mio Signor’ (Handel) while John Anthony Fsadni ac- companied on the piano. December will see this year ‘s group of 13 6th formers finishing their Systems of Knowledge project with us. They each had to do a mini- mum of 12 visits of 2 hours each. After each visit, they are required to do a short write-up of the work they did and what values they practised doing that particular work. As can be imagined, it can be quite a challenge to come up with so many different areas of work to assign to the students so as to expose them to a variety of required skills and values. However, we feel the work is worth it since we are really investing in the future custodians of our heritage. For many of them, it is their first close focus on our heritage and this work helps them to see first-hand how essential and important it is for them to be involved if it is to be preserved for future generations. 2 Over the last two months, we have had two courtesy visits to our Headquar- ters. One was from the Leader of the Oppostion Dr. Simon Busuttil and the other was from the PN Gozo Candi- dates. At both visits, our society’s work was explained to the visitors and ongo- ing and future projects discussed . Surprise was expressed by the visitors at the amount of work that is being ac- complished by a relatively small NGO and they expressed their full support of our work. For the fourth year, events were held at our Santa Cecilia chapel to commemorate the feastday of St. Cecilia. This year the organization was a joint effort between 3 NGO’s—Wirt Ghawdex, the Fondazzjoni Santa Ce- cilia and the Ghajnsielem Band Club. Events were spread over three days and included a Mass at the chapel held by the Ghajsielem Bank Club and a musi- cal event, spread over two evenings , organized by Fondazzjoni Santa Cecilia.. The concertino featured mezzo soprano Marthese Borg, guitar- ist Frank Buhagiar and conductor Antoine Mercieca under the artistic direction of George Mizzi. The whole event was enjoyed by all those who attended and plans are already underway for a repeat next year. 3 Gozo in Print (16) BLAST FROM THE by John Cremona Executive Committee Member of Wirt Għawdex PAST And where are the Gozitans? Those of you who are following this series of articles about Gozo in print will justly ask “And where are the Gozitans?” We have seen a number of views of Gozo but its people rarely feature. I know of only three engravings which deal specifically with the Gozitans and their way of attire. In this article I shall be describing the most important one because apart from the picture we also have a detailed description of the author/artist. Once again I am featuring an engraving by Jean Houel taken from his famous four volume work ‘Voyage Pittoresque des iles de Sicilie, de Malte et de Lipari’ published in 1786. The print is divided into two parts; the upper part shows costumes of Gozitan males and females whilst the lower part shows a plan of the Ggantija Temples and the Xaghra Stone Circle as they appeared during the time of Houel’s visit to Gozo. This means that the plans show the Ggantija Temples before the clearing operation carried out by John Otto Bayer and before the destruction of the Xaghra Stone Circle. Houel’s description of Gozitan men and women is rather unique if not also surprising. ‘One has the purpose to show the headdresses of some of the inhabitants of Gozo, in which I believe I have discerned the origin of the North African Turban; they are quite simple woolen caps: some of the men, especially those who are older, tie these caps with a small scarf around their heads and add to this an ornament which gives them a slight suggestion of the turban, and which constitutes a transition from our headdress to that of the Africans, just as the island forms a passage from one continent to the other’. Houel who was accustomed to the high fashion of the Parisian court, describes in great detail the costume of Gozitan women, particularly those he saw filling water at the wash house of Gran Fontana and those he saw returning from the fields after a days’ work; ‘The other figure is no less singular: I have drawn it using as a model the women I have seen in the countryside with their heads covered, because of the dust which they would otherwise inhale. They make sure of not breathing it in by covering their mouths with the same handkerchief with which they have covered their heads and which they tie behind their necks…I take advantage of the same figure to give an idea of the manner in which certain local women I have seen are corseted; they have bodices which come only to the base of the neck and which they fasten in such a way that their necks are totally free; but this they cover with a simple but ample fichu, quite transparent…….The effect is not all unpleasant’. He then turns to describe the Gozitans in general and says that they are very beautiful in their form; ‘All the women and young girls living nearby come there (Lunzjata fountain) either to wash their linen or to draw water. I noticed a great number of very pretty girls and women, who confirmed my opinion, which I had already formed, of the beauty of the Gozitan people…….’ On Houel’s description of the Gozitans we will resume in another article. The engraving is entitled Coeffures et costumes de quelques homes et femmes de l’ Isle du Goze – Plan de deux edifices antiques a et b and bears the number CCLI (251). It measures 375mm x 260mm. The original watercolours made by Houel on which the engravings are based are to be found in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Author’s note : English translation of the Jean Houel text made by William Driscoll taken from the publication of the facsimile of by Wirt Ghawdex 1999 4 Archaeologists return to Santa Verna, Xaghra after 104 years By Rowan McLaughlin, Simon Stoddart and Caroline Malone In 1906, the archaeologist Thomas Ashby was elected as the director of the British School at Rome.