Christmas Time

Phew! What a nightmare it had been this month through moving and trying to settle down in a new place and actually getting down to my usual way of working. From countryside to seaside and from a shared life to a solitary one once again. Quite traumatic time but I must admit that having no Internet connection for almost a month was part of this trauma. I noticed that in December I had no posts at all and wish to place a comment before the month and year is out.

I managed to fix my Internet connection just in time for Christmas and to make a couple of observations tied to the Maltese Christmas traditions that even foreigners who love our way of life might find of interest.

I am not mentioning the pasturi (clay figures) that are used in cribs and which take pride of place in the Maltese Christmas culture.

I just refer to food and weather.

I seem to wonder how the qaghaq ta' l-ghasel (treacle rings) managed to survive the passage of time and still is as popular as much as ever. To me it is one item that heralds the approaching of Christmastime.

The ring-cakes are filled with a cooked mixture of honey, semolina and some kind of liqueur. Just before these are placed in the oven their pastry surface is sliced in different places so that the filling is allowed space to escape through the pastry when expanding.

But a fascinating custom tied to these times is called l-irwiegel - rules or calends with which farmers are most familiar with. These rules start on December 13th and continue until the 24th (Christmas Eve). It is understood that the twelve days before Christmas correspond exactly to the twelve months of the following year ie the 13th would correspond to January, the 14th to February and so on - ending on the 24th which would be December. This serves as a good forecast of the weather tendencies for the following year's months.

The splendour of the Maltese culture is often threatened by social changes and researchers try to keep customs alive by continuously exposing their findings to the emerging generations.

A Happy and Healthy season to all.