Christmas Day is only two days away and it is worth reminding ourselves that, despite the petty political back-biting that is such a staple of Maltese life, there is much that unites us as a nation and makes us proud of our Maltese identity.
There are many strands – from festas to fireworks – that bind us together. But there are five major elements that unite us and make us who we are: our history and identity, our language, our religion, our built cultural heritage and our uniquely strong Maltese family life.
Our history unites us and has nurtured a common identity. Pride in our nationhood and our Malta story predominate. Our strategic position, our closeness to the major civilisations of the central Mediterranean, our involvement, often unwillingly, in the great conflicts of the area, have given our country a depth of history and cultural heritage disproportionate to our size.
There cannot be many lands that have come into contact with so many visitors, or have been so central to the foreign policy and military interests of other nations. All have become part of the national psyche and helped shape and unite us.
The earliest known inhabitants arrived by boat from Sicily around 5200BC. Prehistoric man was followed by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs (laying the basis for the modern Maltese language, replacing one Semitic language, Phoenician, with another, Arabic), Normans, Sicilians, Swabians, Angevins, Arragonese, the Knights, the French and British.
Each has left its mark and to a large extent formed us. If we do not understand where we came from, we do not understand who we are. Our history has given us our culture and identity.
The family still remains the centre-piece of Maltese life
Malta’s march towards statehood was a remarkable and chequered one. The grant of the Magna Charta Libertatis in 1428. The arrival of the displaced Sovereign Military Order in 1530. The heroic story of the Great Siege remains indelible in the collective memory as it mobilised one and all as never before.
With the coming of the Knights, our modern history as a nation begins. Politically, the Knights made Malta into a small European State.
Rapid administrative and legislative changes followed Napoleon’s arrival in 1798, some of which survive to this day. Malta’s first and only popular armed insurrection against the French reinforced three factors of Maltese identity: culture, nationality and politics.
When the French surrendered, we came under British control. We saw allegiance to the British monarch as a compact in return for protection. During World War II – unified in adversity as never before – we fought shoulder to shoulder with Britain and its allies against Italian Fascism and German Nazism.
Such was our people’s heroism during the Second Great Siege of Malta that, for the first and only time ever, a nation was awarded the highest civilian award for bravery, the George Cross. Malta is uniquely honoured in the world.
The British influence on Malta, especially in administration, constitution-building and democratic politics, has been considerable. Independence came at last in 1964 and Malta became a Republic within the Commonwealth 10 years later. We acceded to the European Union in 2004 without, however, renouncing our recognisably Maltese identity.
In the evolution of a Maltese nationality and identity, our long history shows that the “western European” layer (the Knights of Malta and, more recently, the French and successive British colonial administrations) settled on, and permeated, the former “southern” layer (Sicilian-Normans and feudal lords). This had itself camouflaged the earlier “Arabic” layer, which in turn had superseded the Graeco-Roman legacy after the Phoenicians.
The “western” layer has been the most significant because during its time over a span of five centuries Malta developed into a modern state. We have been able to preserve a character of our own, while integrating with, and absorbing ideas from whichever ruler held sway at that moment in our history.
We have survived as one of the world’s smallest ethnic minorities – over one million in total worldwide – with our own undisputed territory and surrounding seas, and with our own language, culture and distinct identity, too.
Second, our language. With the passage of time after the end of the Arab period in Malta and the Norman conquest, Maltese began to evolve into a separate language with classical Arabic increasingly influenced by Romance and English words and expressions.
Maltese has distanced itself structurally so profoundly from the rules of spoken or written Arabic as to be regarded today as a separate language. By the Middle Ages, Maltese had already assumed the status of a national language and was regarded as a core value of nationality.
Although until the 1930s Maltese had no standard orthography and barely any literature, the Maltese language emerged from the spoils of “pro-Italian” and “pro-English” politics – in a clash of power politics – as our national language in administration, education and the law courts.
The Constitution has entrenched Maltese as the national language, with English as the second language.
Third, our religion. The importance of religion, of ritual and rites, goes back to the dawn of Malta’s history in the temple culture 7,000 years ago. Religion has been of the utmost importance throughout our history in marking out our national character and identity. It has imparted solidarity to the Maltese, becoming both a symbol and a rallying cause.
It was inevitable that under a succession of foreign dominations the people should look to the church, their priests and bishops to provide the necessary leadership and act as the focal point for community, welfare and education. We kept our Semitic language, yet our Christian sentiment predominated.
In their majority, the Maltese remain Catholics. While freedom of conscience is not in question, secularisation has also made itself felt. But the influence of Catholicism has been redoubtable in the moulding of a Maltese identity.
Fourth, our built cultural heritage. The Neolithic temples are “the earliest free-standing monuments in stone in the world” and the Ggantija Temple in Gozo is “perhaps the world’s earliest architecturally conceived exterior”. They are Malta’s gift to the march of world history. They paved the way to centuries of outstanding built cultural heritage. Beautiful town houses and villas were built here during Roman times.
From 1530, when Malta was given to the Knights of Malta, we experienced a long period of building activity that produced some of our finest architectural achievements, as well as outstanding works of art. A tradition of vernacular architectural excellence was founded and for four hundred years until Independence Malta’s built cultural heritage thrived. The story of the last 50 years, with affluence and a succession of building booms, have sadly seen a lapse in standards.
Last, and most importantly, the Maltese family. Despite the loosening of ties caused by rapid social changes, the family still remains the centre-piece of Maltese life. It is one of the greatest and most abiding strengths of Maltese identity. None more so than now when Malta is gloriously awash with all the symbols and joys of Christmas and families gather together.
As I shall be spending my Christmas with my family in the depths of the Wiltshire countryside, may I wish all my readers in Malta a very happy Christmas, united in common pride in what binds and identifies us.