Besides historical buildings, the word ‘heritage’ also refers to cultural traditions that are passed down from one generation to the other. These traditions include events, rituals and customs a society shares, some of which can be observed in our communities on a day-to-day basis.

Two elderly men walking down Library Street in Victoria during the feast of St George, celebrated in July.

Photographer Jean-Paul Borg finds daily customs quite intriguing. His Facebook page Kappa Vision is, in fact, replete with photos of people going about their everyday business… whether buying from a local store or a street hawker or having a chat with friends in the village square or simply walking down an alleyway.

He is particularly fascinated by traditional Maltese tradespeople.

“Maltese people doing those traditional trades that we see less and less of today are my favourite. They are also very relevant for remembering our roots,” Borg says.

“I love capturing traditional activities, wherever I might come across them. Soon, many of these trades could become extinct, so passing on their memories for future generations is important.”

Consiglia of Żejtun on her way to selling some homegrown products.

His picture-perfect setting would be the village square which is usually a hive of activity and where communities usually converge, especially in the mornings.

“The pjazza (square) is the get-together place par excellence in Malta, whether it is to sit down for a snack of pastizzi with a belgħa te fit-tazza (a glass of tea), a debate about politics, sports, the weather or a mixture of all of these!”

Until a few months ago, however, our streets and squares were almost empty, devoid of human activity, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A female shepherd walking her sheep, goat and dog in Gudja.

“I remember going to Valletta one morning and being shocked when I saw Republic Street practically empty. Everyone knows how busy and crowded this street usually is, so seeing a lone man walking in an otherwise deserted street was quite the scene,” Borg remarks.

On the positive side, there was less traffic and less crowded places, so he could take shots of various places whose view would usually be obstructed in one way or the other.

He admits that, when people returned to the streets wearing masks, he wasn’t too excited: “Masks are not very photogenic so, at first, it was a bit strange and nothing is traditional about them either!”

Borg likes to capture moments that bring back good and happy memories.

Patrons outside the Blue Haven Bar in Żejtun.

“That is how I want to remember life in Malta,” he says.

Asked about the most joyous moments he captured, Borg recalls a female shepherd walking her goat, sheep and shepherd dog in Gudja on a spring afternoon.

“It was the typically unplanned, out-of-the-blue scene you experience every once in a while that turns out to be the best experience (and maybe photo) you could imagine. In Maltese they rightly say ‘ta’ bla ħsieb jirnexxi dejjem (unplanned things are always successful).”

Visit https://www.facebook.com/kappavision and the Instagram account @kappavision_gram for more photos.

This is the fourth article in a series. Read parts one, two and three.

A fisherman mends his net at the entrance of his boathouse in Gozo.

Two women chatting and laughing on the doorstep of a house in East Street, Valletta.