Yes, I know it’s been a while since I did a little blogging. There is a good deal I could talk about too. I feel like I've been involved in a lot of Maltese cultural experiences lately...
Cultural experience #1: A while back an archeologist, who has connections to the University, gave us a lecture on Malta's pre-history, and then took us on a field trip to the Tarxien Temples. Their remains are from the Neolithic Period, and so were built between 3000-3600 BC. This makes them about 5,000 years old, and the oldest free-standing structure in the world!(...Oh geez. I just re-read the last few sentences, and I'm thinkin I'm starting to sound like a tour-guide...I guess this just shows you how much my realm of knowledge has expanded since I've been here...) Anyway, this makes these temples older than Stone Hinge and older than the Pyramids...pretty crazy huh? Several areas of these temples have been restored, and some parts with lots of detail have been taken to the Museum of Archeology in Valetta--but there was definitely still a lot of original 5,000-yr old rock goin-on.
After this trip, we went to a site called Borg in Nadur. This was the site of an ancient village from the Bronze Age period (so, sometime between 1500-700 BC). I absolutely LOVED visiting this place. For one thing, nearby there
was an amazing view of the sea. Secondly, it was so GREEN!! We don't see a lot of that in Sliema where we live. It was sunny, yellow flowers were blooming, cactus was growing all over the place, and there were green hills dotted with ancient stones all around us. I didn't want to leave.
#2: Then, a few Sundays ago I took a bus into Valetta with two other girls from my flat. We went actually went to the Museum of Archeology where all the missing original pieces were from the Tarxien Temples--in addition, there was lots of other ancient pottery, sculptures, and jewelry. It was neat to see all of that stuff after we had been given the background information for it all. That night after finding a cute, cheap place to eat, we met up with some other people from our group and saw a play called, Mercury Fur. It was a really dark play, but I thought it had a good message, and it was a neat experience--especially from a cultural view-point. We had a good discussion about the play with a guy on the bus on the way back home--I was proud when he began to realize that, even though we were young, we were fully capable of contributing to an intelligent discussion.
#3: The next week we went on another field trip to "the ancient city" of Mdina, and also to the nearby city of Rabat. Mdina is one of the oldest founded cities in Malta. I thought the most interesting part of the city was its oldest wall that visibly shows the three different time periods
of the city. In Rabat we saw lots of ancient things--including some catacombs. In case you aren't quite sure what catacombs are (because, I had no idea)--they are underground burial tombs. There were soooo many of them at this site and the walkways wound in all sorts of directions. Many people from our group thought these were creepy, but I thought they were super neat--it had a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/Flintstones feel to it all (it was all made of rock). It was really incredible to think that people had dug out all of these tombs, and that they were all filled with the dead at one point. I feel like people went to great extents to honor their dead during this time. While I was exploring around down there, and finding my way by the light of the electric torches, I was just thinkin--back in ancient times, if your torch went out, you'd be stuck underground in the dark with dead people. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure that's a risk I would've been brave enough to take...
#4-6: A few more Maltese experiences to note: ate a boat-load of Maltese figolla (double- decker cookie with sweet almond-paste in-between and
frosting on top--a traditional holiday sweet), ate a traditional Maltese "honey"-ring (but it didn't have honey in any of the ingredients), and went to St. Paul's Festa in the streets. Now, let me tell you a little bit about this festa-deal: We learned recently that every parish in Malta has a saint that they honor, and every saint has a day--so, basically, there is a lot of celebrating that goes on here. This was a celebration of the shipwreck of St. Paul. Yes, they do celebrate a shipwreck--kind of backwards, I know--but it is said to be the day that Paul got washed onto Malta and performed a few miracles (just as it says in the Bible).
As we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral with Michael Vella (this cute, little, very knowledgeable, old-guy, who was our guide for the night) we passed through streets decorated with red banners and green draperies. Then, we turned onto the street that the cathedral was on: confetti covered the ground, the bell in the tower was ringing, and people were beginning to fill the area. Mr. Vella finished explaining the history behind some of the things within the Cathedral —such as the super old wooden statue of St. Paul and the case that was said to hold his wrist bone--just in time for the procession.
The procession was amazing. I was so happy we were there to be a part of all the action. People were singing, bells were tolling, fireworks were going off, confetti was falling, a band was playing, news cameras were rolling, and people were everywhere (filling at least two blocks of this street, as well as the balconies of apartments) while the procession filed out of the church--St. Paul's wrist bone and all. It was quite the event. After this, the whole parade (St. Paul's statue, the clergymen of the church, the altar boys) proceeded on throughout the town for an hour or so and eventually stopped at the center to have a ceremony. Mr. Vella tried to make it clear that traditions such as these are not merely a “spectacle” —even though it is a celebration, it also holds true and serious religious value/meaning for many of the people celebrating. This was a good reminder for me not to look at the festival from a tourist point of view—but instead from the eyes of a these people.
We could tell when the whole event was over because all the little altar boys, who had probably had been itching to get away for several hours, began running through the streets in their white gowns. You could just hear them yelling "We're free! We're free!"
. Afterwards a few of us had a fun time playing in the confetti on the streets with the little kids. There was so much of it on one street that a few kids had actually started building a fort out of the stuff. It was SO neat! I wanted to stay and play in it the rest of the night--but, unfortunately we had to go.
Anyway, now I have truly written a novel, but, at least you're caught up on a few of my recent Maltese cultural experiences. Maybe somebody reading will even feel like they're a more cultured person for reading this post on me feeling more cultured.
Cultural experience #1: A while back an archeologist, who has connections to the University, gave us a lecture on Malta's pre-history, and then took us on a field trip to the Tarxien Temples. Their remains are from the Neolithic Period, and so were built between 3000-3600 BC. This makes them about 5,000 years old, and the oldest free-standing structure in the world!(...Oh geez. I just re-read the last few sentences, and I'm thinkin I'm starting to sound like a tour-guide...I guess this just shows you how much my realm of knowledge has expanded since I've been here...) Anyway, this makes these temples older than Stone Hinge and older than the Pyramids...pretty crazy huh? Several areas of these temples have been restored, and some parts with lots of detail have been taken to the Museum of Archeology in Valetta--but there was definitely still a lot of original 5,000-yr old rock goin-on.
After this trip, we went to a site called Borg in Nadur. This was the site of an ancient village from the Bronze Age period (so, sometime between 1500-700 BC). I absolutely LOVED visiting this place. For one thing, nearby there
was an amazing view of the sea. Secondly, it was so GREEN!! We don't see a lot of that in Sliema where we live. It was sunny, yellow flowers were blooming, cactus was growing all over the place, and there were green hills dotted with ancient stones all around us. I didn't want to leave.#2: Then, a few Sundays ago I took a bus into Valetta with two other girls from my flat. We went actually went to the Museum of Archeology where all the missing original pieces were from the Tarxien Temples--in addition, there was lots of other ancient pottery, sculptures, and jewelry. It was neat to see all of that stuff after we had been given the background information for it all. That night after finding a cute, cheap place to eat, we met up with some other people from our group and saw a play called, Mercury Fur. It was a really dark play, but I thought it had a good message, and it was a neat experience--especially from a cultural view-point. We had a good discussion about the play with a guy on the bus on the way back home--I was proud when he began to realize that, even though we were young, we were fully capable of contributing to an intelligent discussion.
#3: The next week we went on another field trip to "the ancient city" of Mdina, and also to the nearby city of Rabat. Mdina is one of the oldest founded cities in Malta. I thought the most interesting part of the city was its oldest wall that visibly shows the three different time periods
of the city. In Rabat we saw lots of ancient things--including some catacombs. In case you aren't quite sure what catacombs are (because, I had no idea)--they are underground burial tombs. There were soooo many of them at this site and the walkways wound in all sorts of directions. Many people from our group thought these were creepy, but I thought they were super neat--it had a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/Flintstones feel to it all (it was all made of rock). It was really incredible to think that people had dug out all of these tombs, and that they were all filled with the dead at one point. I feel like people went to great extents to honor their dead during this time. While I was exploring around down there, and finding my way by the light of the electric torches, I was just thinkin--back in ancient times, if your torch went out, you'd be stuck underground in the dark with dead people. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure that's a risk I would've been brave enough to take...#4-6: A few more Maltese experiences to note: ate a boat-load of Maltese figolla (double- decker cookie with sweet almond-paste in-between and
frosting on top--a traditional holiday sweet), ate a traditional Maltese "honey"-ring (but it didn't have honey in any of the ingredients), and went to St. Paul's Festa in the streets. Now, let me tell you a little bit about this festa-deal: We learned recently that every parish in Malta has a saint that they honor, and every saint has a day--so, basically, there is a lot of celebrating that goes on here. This was a celebration of the shipwreck of St. Paul. Yes, they do celebrate a shipwreck--kind of backwards, I know--but it is said to be the day that Paul got washed onto Malta and performed a few miracles (just as it says in the Bible).As we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral with Michael Vella (this cute, little, very knowledgeable, old-guy, who was our guide for the night) we passed through streets decorated with red banners and green draperies. Then, we turned onto the street that the cathedral was on: confetti covered the ground, the bell in the tower was ringing, and people were beginning to fill the area. Mr. Vella finished explaining the history behind some of the things within the Cathedral —such as the super old wooden statue of St. Paul and the case that was said to hold his wrist bone--just in time for the procession.
The procession was amazing. I was so happy we were there to be a part of all the action. People were singing, bells were tolling, fireworks were going off, confetti was falling, a band was playing, news cameras were rolling, and people were everywhere (filling at least two blocks of this street, as well as the balconies of apartments) while the procession filed out of the church--St. Paul's wrist bone and all. It was quite the event. After this, the whole parade (St. Paul's statue, the clergymen of the church, the altar boys) proceeded on throughout the town for an hour or so and eventually stopped at the center to have a ceremony. Mr. Vella tried to make it clear that traditions such as these are not merely a “spectacle” —even though it is a celebration, it also holds true and serious religious value/meaning for many of the people celebrating. This was a good reminder for me not to look at the festival from a tourist point of view—but instead from the eyes of a these people.
We could tell when the whole event was over because all the little altar boys, who had probably had been itching to get away for several hours, began running through the streets in their white gowns. You could just hear them yelling "We're free! We're free!"
. Afterwards a few of us had a fun time playing in the confetti on the streets with the little kids. There was so much of it on one street that a few kids had actually started building a fort out of the stuff. It was SO neat! I wanted to stay and play in it the rest of the night--but, unfortunately we had to go.Anyway, now I have truly written a novel, but, at least you're caught up on a few of my recent Maltese cultural experiences. Maybe somebody reading will even feel like they're a more cultured person for reading this post on me feeling more cultured.
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