Culture of Malta
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The culture of Malta has been influenced by various societies that have come into contact with the
History
The culture of prehistoric Malta
The earliest inhabitants of the Maltese Islands are believed to have been
Little is known about the temple builders of Malta and Gozo; however there is some evidence that their rituals included
The development of modern Maltese culture
The culture of modern Malta has been described as a "rich pattern of traditions, beliefs and practices," which is the result of "a long process of adaptation, assimilation and cross fertilization of beliefs and usages drawn from various conflicting sources." It has been subjected to the same complex, historic processes that gave rise to the linguistic and ethnic admixture that defines who the people of Malta and Gozo are today.[6]
Present-day Maltese culture is essentially Latin European with the recent British legacy also in evidence. In the early part of its history, Malta was also exposed to Semitic-speaking communities. The present-day legacy of this is linguistic rather than cultural. The Latin European element is the major source of Maltese culture because of the virtually continuous cultural impact on Malta over the past eight centuries and the fact that Malta shares the religious beliefs, traditions and ceremonies of its Sicilian and Southern European neighbors.
Sources of Semitic influence
Phoenicians
The
Aghlabid conquest
This period coincided with
It is difficult to trace a continuous line of cultural development during this time. A proposed theory that the islands were sparsely populated during Fatimid rule is based on a citation in the French translation of the Rawd al-mi'ṭār fī khabar al-aqṭār ("The Scented Garden of Information about Places").[15] Al-Himyari describes Malta as generally uninhabited and visited by Arabs solely for the purpose of gathering honey and timber and catching fish. No other chronicles make similar descriptions and this claim is not universally accepted.
Up to two hundred years after
The marble gravestone of a
The population of Malta at that time amounted to no more than 1,119 households, of whom 836 were described as
Jewish presence
A number of Jewish families resided in Malta almost consistently from approximately 1500 BCE[citation needed] to the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, and again from the time of the Knights of Malta through to the present. This is yet another source of Semitic influence in Maltese culture.
According to local legend,
Unlike the Jewish experience in the rest of Europe, throughout the Middle Ages the Jews of Malta generally resided among the general population rather than in ghettos, frequently becoming landowners. The Jewish population of Malta had flourished throughout the period of Norman rule, such that one third of the population of Malta's ancient capital, Mdina, is said to have been Jewish.[20]
In 1492, in response to the Alhambra Decree the Royal Council had argued – unsuccessfully – that the expulsion of the Jews would radically reduce the total population of the Maltese Islands, and that Malta should therefore be treated as a special case within the Spanish Empire.[21] Nonetheless, the decree of expulsion was signed in Palermo on 18 June 1492, giving the Jewish population of Malta and Sicily three months to leave. Numerous forced conversions to Catholicism, or exile, followed. Evidence of these conversions can be found in many Maltese family names that still survive today, such as the families Abela, Ellul, Salamone, Mamo, Cohen, and Azzopardi.[22]
A much smaller Jewish community developed under the rule of the Knights of Malta, but this consisted primarily of slaves and emancipated slaves. Under the rule of certain Grandmasters of the Order, the Jews were made to reside in Valletta's prisons at night, while by day they remained free to transact business, trade and commerce among the general population.
Local place names around the island, such as Bir Meyru (Meyer's Well), Ġnien il-Lhud (The Jew's Garden) and Ħal Muxi (Moshé's Farm)[21] attest to the endurance of Jewish presence in Malta.
Slaves in Malta
Exposure to Semitic influences continued to a limited extent during the 268-year rule of the Knights of St. John over Malta, due in part to trade between the Knights and North Africa, but primarily due to the large numbers of slaves present in Malta during the 17th and 18th centuries: upwards of 2,000 at any given time (or about 5 per cent of the population of Malta), of whom 40–45 per cent were Moors, and the remainder Turks, Africans and Jews. There were so many Jewish slaves in Malta during this time that Malta was frequently mentioned for its large enslaved Jewish population in Jewish literature of the period.[23]
The slaves were engaged in various activities, including construction, shipbuilding and the transportation of Knights and nobles by sedan-chair. They were occasionally permitted to engage in their own trades for their own account, including hairdressing, shoe-making and woodcarving, which would have brought them into close contact with the Maltese urban population.
[slaves] strolled along the street of Valletta under the pretext of selling merchandise, spreading among the women and simple-minded persons any kind of superstition, charms, love-remedies and other similar vanities.[24]
A significant number of slaves converted to Christianity, were emancipated, or even adopted by their Maltese patrons which may have further exposed Maltese culture to their customs.[25]
Sources of Latin European influence
Roman municipium
From 218 BCE to 395 CE, Malta was under Roman political control, initially as a praetorship of
Whether the origins of Maltese culture can be found in the Eastern Mediterranean or North Africa, the impact on Malta of
... at least during the first few centuries of Roman rule, tradition, customs and language were still Punic despite romanization of the place. This is in agreement with what can be read in the Acts of the Apostles, which call the Maltese "barbarians", that is using a language that was neither Greek nor Latin, but Punic.[26]
With the division of the Roman Empire, in 395 CE, Malta was given to the eastern portion ruled from Constantinople and this new colonization introduced Greek families to the Maltese collective,[27] bringing with them various superstitions, proverbs, and traditions that exist within Maltese culture today.[28]
Catholicism
It is said that in Malta, Gozo, and Comino there are more than 365 churches, or one church for every 1,000 residents. The parish church (Maltese: "il-parroċċa", or "il-knisja parrokjali") is the architectural and geographic focal point of every Maltese town and village, and its main source of civic pride. This civic pride manifests itself in spectacular fashion during the local village festas, which mark the feast day of the patron saint of each parish with marching bands, religious processions, special
), and other festivities.Making allowances for a possible break in the appointment of bishops to Malta during the period of the Fatimid conquest, the Maltese Church is referred to today as the only extant
Further evidence of Christian practices and beliefs during the period of Roman persecution can be found in the many
The writings of classic Maltese historian, Gian. Francesco Abela recount the conversion to Christianity of the Maltese population at the hand of
For centuries, leadership over the Church in Malta was generally provided by the
During the
The Normans
The later years of Norman rule over Malta brought massive waves of immigration to the Islands from Sicily and from the Italian mainland, including clergy and notaries. Sicilian became the sole written language of Malta, as evidenced by notarial deeds from this period, but this was eventually supplanted by Tuscan Italian, which became the primary literary language and the medium of legal and commercial transactions in Malta. A large number of Sicilian and Italian words were adopted into the local vernacular.
Traces of
Spain
The Spanish period also saw the establishment of local nobility, with the creation of Malta's oldest extant title, the Barony of Djar-il-Bniet e Buqana, and numerous others. Under Spanish rule Malta developed into a feudal state. From time to time during this period, the Islands were nominally ruled by various Counts of Malta, who were typically illegitimate sons of the reigning Aragonese monarch; however, the day-to-day administration of the country was essentially in the hands of the local nobility, through their governing council known as the Università.
Some of Malta's premier noble families including the Inguanez family, settled in Malta from Spain and Sicily during this time. Other Maltese families of Spanish origin include: Alagona, Aragona, Abela, Flores, Guzman and Xerri.
The period of Spanish rule over Malta lasted roughly as long as the period of Arab rule; however, this appears to have had little impact on the language spoken in rural Malta, which remained heavily influenced by
The Knights of St. John
The population of Malta increased considerably during the rule of the
The period of the Knights is often referred to as Malta's Golden Age, as a result of the architectural and artistic embellishment of the Islands by their resident rulers, and as a result of advances in the overall health, education and prosperity of the local population during this period. Music, literature, theatre and the visual arts all flourished in Malta during this period, which also saw the foundation and development of many of the Renaissance and Baroque towns and villages, palaces and gardens of Malta, the most notable of which is the capital city, Valletta.
Contact between the Maltese and the many Sicilian and Italian mariners and traders who called at Valletta's busy Grand Harbour expanded under Knights, while at the same time, a significant number of Western European nobles, clerics and civil servants relocated to Malta during this period. The wealth and influence of Malta's noble families – many of whom trace their ancestry back to the Norman and Spanish monarchs who ruled Malta prior to the Knights – was also greatly enhanced during this period.
Maltese education, in particular, took a significant leap forward under the Knights, with the foundation, in 1592, of the
Sicily and the Italian mainland
Located just 96 km (60 mi) to the north, Sicily has provided Malta with a virtually continuous exchange of knowledge, ideas, customs and beliefs throughout history. Many modern Maltese families trace their origins to various parts of Sicily and Southern Italy. The geographic proximity has facilitated a considerable amount of intermarriage, cross-migration, and trade between the two groups of islands. It is likely that this was just as true during the period of Arab domination over Sicily as it has been since the Norman conquest of Sicily in 1060 CE. Accordingly, it is difficult to determine whether some of the Semitic influences on Maltese culture were originally imported to Malta from North Africa, or from Sicily. The Sicilian influence on Maltese culture is extensive, and is especially evident in the local cuisine, with its emphasis on olive oil, pasta, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables (especially the tomato), traditional appetizers such as caponata (Maltese: "kapunata") and rice balls (arancini), speciality dishes such as rice timbale (Maltese: "ross fil-forn"), and sweets such as the cassata and kannoli.
Sicilian influence is also evident in many of the local
Despite Malta's rapid transformation into a strategic naval base during the
France
Under the rule of General Vaubois civil marriages were introduced to Malta, and all non-Maltese clergymen and women were ordered to leave the Islands. A wholesale plundering of the gold, silver and precious art of Maltese churches followed, and several monasteries were forcibly taken from the religious orders. The Maltese were scandalized by the desecration of their churches. A popular uprising culminated with the "defenestration" of Citizen Masson, commandant of the French garrison, and the
British Malta
British rule, from 1800 to 1964, radically and permanently transformed the language, culture and politics of Malta. Malta's position in the British Empire was unique in that it did not come about by conquest or by colonization, but at the voluntary request of the Maltese people. Britain found in Malta an ancient, Christian culture, strongly influenced by neighbouring Italy and Sicily, and loyal to the Roman Catholic Church. Malta's primary utility to Great Britain lay in its excellent natural harbours and strategic location, and for many decades, Malta was essentially a "fortress colony".
Throughout the 19th century, Malta benefited from increased defence spending by Britain, particularly from the development of the dockyards and the harbour facilities. The Crimean War and the opening of the Suez Canal further enhanced Malta's importance as a supply station and as a naval base. Prosperity brought with it a dramatic rise in the population, from 114,000 in 1842, to 124,000 in 1851, 140,000 in 1870, and double that amount by 1914. Malta became increasingly urbanized, with the majority of the population inhabiting the Valletta and the Three Cities. Malta's fortunes waned during times of peace in the early 20th century, and again after World War II, leading to massive waves of emigration.
Although Malta remained heavily dependent on British military spending, successive British governors brought advances in medicine, education, industry and agriculture to Malta. The British legacy in Malta is evident in the widespread use of the English language in Malta today. English was adopted as one of Malta's two official languages in 1936, and it has now firmly replaced Italian as the primary language of tertiary education, business, and commerce in Malta.
The British period introduced the Neoclassical style of architecture to Malta, evident in several buildings built during this period, including the parish church of Sta. Marija Assunta in Mosta and St Paul's Pro-Cathedral in Valletta, which has a spire dominating the city's skyline.
Neo-Gothic architecture was also introduced to Malta during this period, such as in the Chapel of Santa Maria Addolorata at Malta's main cemetery, and in the Carmelite Church in Sliema. Sliema itself, which developed from a sleepy fishing village into a bustling, cosmopolitan town during the British period, once boasted an elegant seafront that was famed for its Regency style architecture, that was strongly reminiscent of the British seaside town of Brighton.
Impact of World War II
Perhaps as an indirect result of the brutal devastation suffered by the Maltese at the hands of
The "culture clash" between pro-British and pro-Italian elements in Malta reached its apex in February 1942, when British Governor Lieutenant-General Sir William Dobbie ordered the deportation of 47 notable Maltese, including Enrico Mizzi, leader of the Nationalist Party, and Sir Arturo Mercieca, Chief Justice of Malta, who were suspected by the Colonial authorities of being sympathetic to the fascist cause. Their exile in Uganda, which lasted until 8 March 1945, was a source of controversy among the Maltese.
British traditions in modern Malta
British traditions that live on in Malta include an efficient civil service, a
Due to Malta forming a part of the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a considerable amount of intermarriage having taken place during that time period, the existence of British or Irish surnames is increasingly common. Examples include: Alden, Atkins, Crockford, Ferry, Gingell, Hall, Hamilton, Harmsworth, Harwood, Jones, Mattocks, Moore, O'Neill, Sladden, Sixsmith, Smith, Strickland, St. John, Turner, Wallbank, Warrington, Kingswell and Woods.[36]
Contemporary culture of Malta
Emigration and immigration
Malta has always been a maritime nation, and for centuries, there has been extensive interaction between Maltese sailors and fishermen and their counterparts around the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic Ocean. More significantly, by the mid-19th century the Maltese already had a long history of migration to various places, including Egypt, Tripolitania, Tunisia, Algeria, Cyprus, the Ionian Islands, Greece, Sicily and Lampedusa. Intermarriage with other nationals (especially Italians and Sicilians) was not uncommon. Migrants would periodically return to Malta, bringing with them new customs and traditions that over time have been absorbed into mainstream Maltese culture.
There was heavy migration from Malta in the early 20th century, and again after World War II until the early 1980s; however the destinations of choice during this period tended to be more distant, English-speaking countries rather than the traditional, Mediterranean
Emigration dropped dramatically after the mid-1970s and has since ceased to be a social phenomenon of significance. However, since Malta joined the EU in 2004 expatriate communities emerged in a number of European countries particularly in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Education
Education is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16 years. While the state provides education free of charge, the
Religion
Today, the Constitution of Malta provides for
Languages
The national language of Malta is
Telecommunications
Radio shows, television programs and the easy availability of foreign newspapers and magazines throughout the 20th century further extended and enhanced the impact of both
Nightlife in Malta
The long, warm summer nights of Malta lend themselves to a vibrant nightlife, which is at odds with Malta's traditional conservatism and the staunch Catholicism of older generations. Clubbing and pub-crawling – especially in the traffic-free zones of
Laid back wine bars are increasingly popular among young professionals and the more discriminating tourists, and are popping up in the kantinas of some of the more picturesque, historic cities and towns, including Valletta and Vittoriosa. They typically offer a mix of local and foreign wines, traditional Maltese appetizer platters, and occasionally, live entertainment.
Despite rapidly increasing tolerance and acceptance of alternative lifestyles, Malta offers its gay and lesbian locals and visitors less nightlife options than other Southern European destinations. With the exception of several staple bars (including Tom's, Valletta and Klozett, Paceville), gay bars in Malta have a tendency to pop up, relocate, and disappear from one summer season to the next. However, the local gay population is usually very much in evidence – and welcome – at the mainstream clubs of Paceville and elsewhere.
Transportation
Car ownership in Malta is the fourth highest in Europe, given the small size of the islands. Like in the UK, traffic
The old
A regular ferry system connects the two main Maltese islands, via the harbours of Ċirkewwa and Marsamxett in Malta, and Mġarr in Gozo. There are also regular ferry services between the Grand Harbour and neighbouring Sicily. A busy cruise liner terminal has been developed on the Valletta side of Grand Harbour; however, Malta's primary connection to the outside world is its airport at Luqa.
Literature
The emergence of Maltese literature
The oldest extant literary text in the Maltese language is
A child of the Romanticism movement, Maltese patriot Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1764–1829) hailed the emergence of literary Maltese as "one of the ancient patrimonies ... of the new emerging nation," seeing this nascent trend as: (1) the affirmation of the singular and collective identity, and (2) the cultivation and diffusion of the national speech medium as the most sacred component in the definition of the patria and as the most effective justification both for a dominated community's claiming to be a nation and for the subsequent struggle against foreign rulers.[40]
Between 1798 and 1800, while Malta was under the rule of Napoleonic France, a Maltese translation of L-Għanja tat-Trijonf tal-Libertà (Ode to the Triumph of Liberty), by Citizen La Coretterie, Secretary to the French Government Commissioner, was published on the occasion of Bastille Day.
The first translation into Maltese of a
The first
1863 saw the publication of the first novel in Maltese, Elvira Jew Imħabba ta' Tirann (Elvira, or the Love of a Tyrant), by the Neapolitan author, Giuseppe Folliero de Luna. Anton Manwel Caruana's novel, Ineż Farruġ (1889), was modelled on traditional Italian historical novels, such as Manzoni's I promessi sposi.
Diglossia
The development of native, Maltese literary works has historically been disrupted by
According to Prof. Oliver Friggieri:
Maltese writers developed an uninterrupted local "Italian" literary movement which went on up to about four decades ago, whereas Maltese as a literary idiom started to coexist on a wide scale in the last decades of the 19th century. Whilst Maltese has the historical priority on the level of the spoken language, Italian has the priority of being the almost exclusive written medium, for the socio-cultural affairs, for the longest period. The native tongue had only to wait for the arrival of a new mentality which could integrate an unwritten, popular tradition with a written, academically respectable one.[40]
Maltese writers
- Clare Azzopardi
- Lina Brockdorff
- Rużar Briffa
- Anton Buttigieg
- Ray Buttigieg
- Charles Casha
- Pietru Caxaro
- Ninu Cremona
- Lou Drofenik
- Francis Ebejer
- Henry Frendo
- Oliver Friggieri
- Ġużè Galea
- Herbert Ganado
- Mary Meilak
- Doreen Micallef
- Gioacchino Navarro
- Dun Karm Psaila
- Frans Said
- Alfred Sant
- Frans Sammut
- Mikiel Anton Vassalli
- Trevor Żahra
Notable writers of Maltese descent
Performing arts
Music
- Malta Song Festival
Theatre
The theatres currently in use for live performances in Malta and Gozo range from historic purpose-built structures to modern constructions, to retrofit structures behind historic façades. They host local and foreign artistes, with a calendar of events that includes modern and period drama in both national languages, musicals, opera, operetta, dance, concerts and poetry recitals. The more notable theatrical venues include:
- St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta: Built as a raised gun platform at the entrance to the walled city c. 1566, retrofitted and inaugurated as a cultural centre on 22 September 2000
- Republic Hall, Valletta: Built as the Sacra Infermeria, the main hospital of the Knights of Malta in 1574, retrofitted and inaugurated as part of the multipurpose Mediterranean Conference Centre on 11 February 1979
- MITP (Mediterranean Institute Theatre Programme), Valletta: Housed in the Collegium Melitensæ, c. 1592
- Manoel Theatre, Valletta: Malta's National Theatre, inaugurated 9 January 1732
- Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta: open-air theatre in the ruins of the Royal Opera House, inaugurated 8 August 2013
- Salesian Theatre, Sliema: Originally known as Juventutis Domus, inaugurated in 1908
- Astra Theatre, Victoria, Gozo: inaugurated 20 January 1968
- Aurora Opera House, Victoria, Gozo: inaugurated 1976
Online Video
Popular Maltese YouTuber Grandayy rose to popularity posting video memes and note block covers. As of 18 July 2019, he has 2.3 million subscribers on YouTube, 2.6 million followers on Instagram, 781.2K followers on Twitter and 100,137 monthly listeners on Spotify. He is the 1st and 2nd most popular person on social media in Malta, along with his 2nd channel grande1899.
Visual arts
The Neolithic temple builders (3800–2500 BCE) endowed the numerous temples of Malta and Gozo with intricate bas relief designs, including spirals evocative of the tree of life and animal portraits, designs painted in red ochre, ceramics, and a vast collection of human form sculptures, particularly the Venus of Malta. These can be viewed at the temples themselves (most notably, the Hypogeum and Tarxien Temples), and at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
The Roman period introduced highly decorative mosaic floors, marble colonnades and classical statuary, remnants of which are beautifully preserved and presented in the Roman Domus, a country villa just outside the walls of
The artistic heritage of Malta blossomed under the
The arrival in Malta of
Throughout the 18th century, Neapolitan and Rococo influences emerged in the works of Luca Giordano (1632–1705) and Francesco Solimena (1657–1747), and local artists Gio Nicola Buhagiar (1698–1752) and Francesco Zahra (1710–1773). The Rococo movement was greatly enhanced by the relocation to Malta of Antoine de Favray (1706–1798), who assumed the position of court painter to Grand Master Pinto in 1744.
A National School of Art was established by Parliament in the 1920s, and during the reconstruction period that followed the Second World War, the local art scene was greatly enhanced by the emergence of the "Modern Art Group", whose members included Josef Kalleya (1898–1998), George Preca (1909–1984), Anton Inglott (1915–1945), Emvin Cremona (1919–1986), Frank Portelli (b. 1922), Antoine Camilleri (b. 1922) and Esprit Barthet (b. 1919). Malta has a thriving contemporary arts scene. Valletta is the European Capital of Culture for 2018. Malta has produced a pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2017 and 1999. There are numerous contemporary arts spaces, such as Blitz and Malta Contemporary Art, which support and nurture Maltese and international artists.
Traditional crafts
Lace making
Traditional Maltese
Lace making has been prevalent in Malta since the 16th century, and was probably introduced to the Islands at roughly the same time as in
There was a resurgence of lace-making in Malta around 1833, which has been attributed to a certain Lady Hamilton-Chichester.[44] Queen Victoria is said to be particularly fond of wearing Malta lace. In 1839, Thomas McGill noted in A Handbook, or Guide, for Strangers visiting Malta, that:
"the females of the island make also excellent lace; the lace mitts and gloves wrought by the Malta girls are bought by all ladies coming to the island; orders from England are often sent for them on account of their beauty and cheapness."
Maltese lace was featured in the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. Lacemaking is currently taught in Government trade schools for girls, and in special classes organized by the Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Lacemaking is essentially a cottage industry throughout Malta and Gozo.
Filigree
Filigree work (Maltese: filugranu) in gold and silver flourished in Malta under the rule of the
Sport
Throughout the 1990s, organized
In 1993 and again in 2003, Malta hosted the
Football
Malta's "national" sport is football. Many Maltese avidly follow English and Italian matches. Malta also has its own national team; however, every four years the World Cup typically sees Maltese loyalties divided between the teams of England and Italy, and a victory by either of these two teams inevitably leads to spontaneous, and very boisterous street parties and carcades all over the Maltese Islands the Euro 2020 final, played between England and Italy, having led to some of the largest in recent memory.
Golf
The Marsa sports complex includes a 68 par golf course, maintained by the Royal Malta Golf Club
Boċċi
Another common sport in Malta is a local variety of the game of bocce or boules (Maltese: boċċi). In Malta, the game is played on a smooth surface covered with coarse-grained sand, with teams of three players. Boċċi clubs are common throughout Malta, but also among the Maltese emigrant communities in Australia, Canada and the United States.
Waterpolo
Passion for
Horse racing
Il-Gostra
Il-Gostra is a traditional sport enjoyed in many seaside towns across Malta with its origins dating back to the middle ages. The sport involves leaning a large wooden pole (normally 10-16 meters in length) over the ocean and covering it in animal fat. The objective of the game is to grab one of three flags at the end of the pole by running up the greased pole.[48] Each Flag has a different prize, the blue and white flag is dedicated to St Mary, a yellow and white flag representing the Vatican, and Belgium tricolour flag representative of St Julian.[49] The sport is still practiced today and has recently garnered worldwide media attention.[50]
See also
- Architecture of Malta
- Għana (folk music)
- History of Malta
- Freemasonry in Malta
- Holidays in Malta
- List of museums in Malta
- Maltese language
- Maltese mythology
- Maltese people
- Music of Malta
- Politics of Malta
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