Maltese folklore
[2] This re-enactment of a traditional Gozitan wedding was officiated at Bishop Michael Buttigieg Square in front of the stone cross column, after which, a procession with the newly weds, led up to the Main Square of the village of Qala, where a typical ‘festin’ was awaiting them, serving traditional delicacies of the period.
Traditional Maltese proverbs reveal a cultural preoccupation with childbearing and fertility: "iż-żwieġ mingħajr tarbija ma fihx tgawdija" (a childless marriage cannot be a happy one).
Maltese and Sicilian women also share certain traditions that are believed to predict the sex of an unborn child, such as the cycle of the moon on the anticipated date of birth, whether the baby is carried "high" or "low" during pregnancy, and the movement of a wedding ring, dangled on a string above the abdomen (sideways denoting a girl, back and forth denoting a boy).
These may include a hard-boiled egg (they grow into wealth), a Bible (they become priests), crucifix or rosary beads (they become clerics), a book, and so on.
More recent additions include calculators (refers to accounting), thread (fashion) and wooden spoons (cooking and a great appetite).
[4] This collection of material inspired subsequent researchers and academics to gather traditional tales, fables and legends from all over the Archipelago.
[citation needed] Magri's work also inspired a series of comic books released by Klabb Kotba Maltin in 1984.
These include the kawkaw or gawgaw, a grey and slimy creature who roamed the streets at night and could smell out naughty boys and Il-Belliegħa, a monster that lived in wells and could pull in children who looked into them.
[8] It is held during the week leading up to Ash Wednesday, and typically includes masked balls, fancy dress and grotesque mask competitions, lavish late-night parties, a colourful, ticker-tape parade of allegorical floats presided over by King Carnival (Maltese: ir-Re tal-Karnival), marching bands and costumed revellers.
Numerous religious traditions, most of them inherited from one generation to the next, are part of the paschal celebrations in the Maltese Islands, honouring the death and resurrection of Jesus.
A national feast since the rule of the Order of St. John, Mnarja is a traditional Maltese festival of food, religion and music.
In 1854 British governor William Reid launched an agricultural show at Buskett which is still being held today.
Indeed, the oldest of today's Maltese bands was set up by Filippo Galea whose father was a bandmaster with the British military.
However, throughout the 1800s, Malta experienced a steady influx of Sicilian and Italian refugees and immigrants, fleeing from civil war or under sentence of exile, who stimulated and popularized the concept of a village band.
In the weeks leading up to a local festa, the main streets around the parish are richly decorated, with brocade banners, ornate religious sculptures mounted on pedestals and, all around the zuntier (parvis) of the parish church, hawkers set up stalls stocked with food and the local variety of nougat.
The parish church itself is typically illuminated at night, although the fjakkoli (flaming lanterns) of yesteryear have been supplanted by bright-coloured electric bulbs.
