On the first day of 1759, a Monday, Rev Dr Ignazio Saverio Mifsud – an erudite preacher who left all the sermons and panegyrics he wrote to our National Library in Valletta [see Joe Zammit Ciantar, Il-Priedki bil-Malti ta’ Ignazio Saverio Mifsud, Malta 2008] – starts his Giornale Maltese [a sort of a diary, National Library of Malta, MS 13, pp. 1 and 2] by giving details on how much money he used to give to relatives, neighbours and friends on the occasion of L-Istrina.

He writes: “Il solito tributo delle mancie, detto La Strena. ...tari trenta... scudo uno... dieci ...; alla serva della Sig.ra Teresa... quattro; al figlio di un cugino… tari due; alla serva della Sig.ra Rosa... tari otto; alla figliola...”. [‘The usual donation of tips, called La Strena. ... tarì 30 ... scudo one ... 10 ...; to Mrs Teresa’s servant... four; to the son of a cousin… tarì two; to Mrs Rosa’s servant ... tarì eight; to the daughter of...’]

It is a pity that most of the handwriting in this paragraph is illegible. We would have known how much money Rev. Mifsud used to give as strena – in Maltese ‘strina’ – and to who.

On every first day of the year, Mifsud recorded that he used to give ‘I soliti auguri e mancie di strena’ [the usual good wishes and the strena money] but did not give many details as regards the amount and the receiver.

L-Istrina in my childhood

We used to enjoy such money gifts during our childhood years in Gozo. From the very early hours of the morning of New Year’s Day, I would dress as smart as I could and go out in the neighbourhood, trying to be seen by, and meet, neighbours and then visit aunts and grand­parents later on in the day. Neighbours would donate a penny or two, some relatives three or six pence, grandparents a shilling or something more.

Theresa, wife of Wiġi and mother of my friend Toni – who were next-door neighbours – used to give me a penny. Nona, a widow, used to give me a penny too. But my aunts used to give me more. However, nobody would give me half a crown as Ziju Dun Pawl used to.

Rev Dun Pawl Ciantar

Rev Dun Pawl Ciantar was the brother of my paternal grandmother, Francesca (we called her Ċikka). He was the brother of Ġużepp, Ġanni, Salvu, Marjanna – all of the Ciantar family, who lived in Xewkija; none of them were married. We used to call them uncles and aunt, even though they were actually my father’s uncles and aunt.

Rev Dun Pawl Ciantar was the 10th parish priest and first archpriest of Xewkija, which was proclaimed a parish on November 27, 1678.

The Maltese word ‘strina’ derives from Italian ‘strenna’, meaning ‘a gift’ [and] the Latin ‘strena’, meaning ‘gift of good luck’

I loved uncle Dun Pawl. And he must have loved me too. He was my godfather for my Holy Confirmation in St George’s [then] church, in Rabat [we never called it Victoria], on June 9, 1949.

L-Istrina is nowadays associated with the annual fundraising marathon in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation. Photo: Jonathan Borg

On New Year’s Day he used to come and visit my family at our home in Sannat Road. He would bring with him large honey rings which he would give to my mother, together with some money [I never learnt how much]. He used to sit on a chair, against an old chest of drawers we had in a room on the first floor, and talk to my parents. Before leaving, he would give my brothers and sisters some money as ‘strina’, too. “And for you, this”, I remember him saying one day, while handing me a tmintax irbiegħi [half a crown].

I do not remember how much I used to be given in all on L-Istrina. But as children, we used to compare the sums of money collected.

At some point, while growing up, however, I stopped receiving money on New Year’s Day.

Origin of ‘strina’

The Maltese word ‘strina’ derives from the Italian ‘strenna’, meaning ‘a gift’ usually given in Italy at Christmastime. The word comes from the Latin ‘strena’, meaning ‘gift of good luck’. The word was used in Malta for ‘money given as a present on New Year’s Day’. This custom originated from a tradition in ancient Rome which involved the exchange of gifts of good wishes during the ‘Saturnalia’ – a series of festivities that took place each year between December 17 and 23 in honour of Saturn.

Locally, the word is today associated with the annual fundraising event for the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation – a commendable activity which is aired on all local TV stations on the morrow of Christmas Day.

An ancient tradition

According to Marcus Terentius Varro, one of ancient Rome’s greatest scholars and a prolific author, the tradition was adopted as early as the first foundation of the city, set up by Titus Tatius – a Sabine who co-ruled over Rome after the rape of the Sabine women, who, as good augur for the new year, used to cut a twig from a plant (arbor felix) found in the woods which were sacred to the goddess Strenia.