Il- girna

The ‘girna’ is a type of hut that was used in the early days by field people. It is found in the Maltese countryside and it is made in different shapes like oval, square, rectangle, although the main one is circular. Its ceiling mostly have a Dome shape.

Squarish giren are better for sheltering but circular ones are more straight forward to build mostly when building the top. The giren are made like the terrace wall is made with double walls and small pieces in the middle. Most of the giren are found to shelter one to two people from the weather.

In the design of the giren generally there are no windows although sometimes a small one is made.

Some of the roofs are flattish to allow the farmer to dry his tomatoes, figs and carobs. Sometimes a stairs is used to be made so that the farmer can see more if there is a case of theft. Most of the giren we found are found in the West and in the top of Malta. The main use of the girna is to keep their products like crops, tools and also food and drink for the farmer.

In my opinion it’s our responsibility to look after these huts since they are of heritage and many of them are being destroyed.

The girna is not typically Maltese and from the research I made corbelled stone huts are found in Italy, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal, France Ireland and the Hebrides.

Stone hut like maltese one only the roof is diffferent. It is found near the Hood river in Oregon.

Irish stone hut which is named a Clochan.

African stone hut which is used as a shelter for farmers and is still being used today. I noticed also that wood is involved for the making of the roofs.

As seen in these pictures we found many huts around the world. Many of them are not being used although we still find ones like African ones that are still being used in these days for farming and also shelter for fisherman.

Bibliography

The Girna- Maltese plural- Giren [online] available at:< http://schoolnet.gov.mt/history/F5/Kampanja/Karat/girna.htm > [ accessed 25 June 2015]

Maltese luzzu

Luzzu is part of the Maltese cultural history,a maltese fishing boat which can be easily recognised from it’s colours blue, red, yelow and sometimes green is also inserted. The name came from sicilian fishing boat which was called ‘Guzzu’. Today the luzzu is also beeing used for tourists tours around the coast of malta. The eyes that the luzzu have on the front are reffered to the ‘Eye of OsIris’. Many believe that they are made to protects fisherman when they are on the sea and ward off evil spirits. The colours of the luzzu have never been changed since they think that it’s bad luck if you change them. The luzzu is also built very strong with double-ended carvel built hull to head out the sea every day also in bad weathers. Many of these fishing boats can be seen in Marsaxlokk and st. Pauls Bay and in many other seaside villages around Malta. In the early days the luzzu Worked with sails but today they are all with diesel engines.

I compared the luzzu to sicilian boats since they have the same design. They have same type of hull and also roundish like the luzzu from the back.

 In my research I also found that the eye of osiris was also found in Phenician boats so that I think that Maltese fisherman may took this thought from them.

Bibliography

What is a luzzu ? – Neptune charter Malta [online] available at :<  http://www.neptunemalta.com/what-is-a-luzzu/> [Accessed 25 June 2015]

The Luzzu: A colourful Malta boat that will grab your attention! [online

Available at :< http://www.maltabulb.com/luzzu.html> [Accessed 25 June 2015]

Maltese bus

The Maltese bus known as the ‘Xarabank’ or also the ‘karozza tal-linja’ was a unique type of bus that is found

no longer exists around the world. The Maltese bus was stemmed by Maltese drivers. Each bus had a unique appearance due the details and decoration each one have on it. The ‘tberfil’ many times is made on the buses to have a nicer look. It was also a tourist attraction and many of the tourists that come to Malta also used it as the main transport to visit places around the small island of Malta. The Maltese traditional bus had operated from 1920-2011. In my opinion this was a very good thing that distinguishes you from other countries in the world.

Characteristics of the Maltese bus

-Addition of chrome parts

- paint details of the ‘tberfil’ (patterns, and also words with different font.)

-Names and nick names and also names of village feasts

-quotations and detailing.

Today the Maltese bus is only used for special occasions like for the graduation students, as school buses and other important events.

I compared the Maltese bus to the Thailand bus. This is because it has the same colors. The shape is also like the Maltese bus in design. It is also used as a transport for people. 

Bibliography

Malta bus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [online] available at :< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_bus [accessed on 25 June 2015]

 Malta boat that will grab your attention! [online

Available at :< http://www.maltabulb.com/luzzu.html> [Accessed 25 June 2015]

The village feasts

Although the village feasts have religious origins now a day are being entertaining. In Malta each church is dedicated to a patron saint which the feast is made for. Many of the feasts we found in Malta are made during the summer and each one is made on a particular weekend. The feasts that are celebrated in Malta are a showcase of a particular village, colorful pelmets lining the streets, statues and fireworks which are fired at night. There is also the village band to complete making atmosphere in the streets. In the streets one can also found stands of local people selling nougat.

Maltese fireworks

In Malta we have many activities during the feasts. A very good example that brings many tourists to Malta is the Maltese fireworks. These go to the times of Saint John knights. These are made from good talented people all year round and are made and putted in a place called the kamra tan nar. These people are also always risking their life since sometimes although rarely they explode.

Some of the types of the fireworks are the ‘sferi’, ‘blalen’, ‘tal kulur’, ‘ beraq ta filodu’ like ‘beraq pront u murtuletti’, ‘bombi’, and ‘kaxxa’. The ‘kaxxa’ is the last thing that is fired before the bombs.

Before the fireworks there is the musketterija which consists of many explosion crackers fired in a continuous therm. These are attached with a string of a high building like the church or the kazin.

There are 35 fireworks factories around Malta.

When I was making my research I also found that in Japan they make fireworks. The coloured fireworks in malta have same type of colors like japanese ones and have also same shape.

Maltese fireworks- circular design

 Japanese design

Same design and shape is used in both fire works. One can also see same pattern 2 circles in each firework.

Bibliography

Loghob tan-nar [online] available at:< http://ms.maltadiocese.org/WEBSITE/2012/PRESS_RELEASES/71_KA_LOGHOB_TAN-NAR_SAHHA_AMBJENT_MLT.pdf  [Accessed 12 May 2015]