Presentation

The Maltese/ Mediterranean Folk.

The Maltese Buses.

The Maltese traditional buses were being imported to Malta in the early 1905.

As everyone knows, we recognize the locality buses by their number shown in front. In the 1930's they didn't used numbers as a recognizable system, but buses with different colour for each locality, they painted the buses in different colours according to their routes.

In the 1975, they changed their colour to green and re-changed their colour again in 1995 to yellow and white with a red stripe below the windows. The Maltese traditional buses where full of white and red designs, that made the buses more attractive most of for tourists. Each bus had different designs and typography because the buses weren't of a company but of their drivers so each driver had different ideas for their vehicle.

I noticed the chrome detail on the buses, and I realized that in the Art Deco movement, the chrome was widely used. So I think that they were influenced by the Art Deco era of 1930's. According to what I noticed, buses in Malta began operating in 1931, so it can be true that they were influenced by this era for doing the chrome details.

I matched the Maltese traditional buses with the African buses. There isn't much to say as there's only a few influences between them. The most part that I combined with the Maltese buses is their colour, that they use/d the same colours of yellow and red, but in a reversed way, and they don't have designs as the Maltese one's does, and not much chrome is seen in them, but they both have flat faced in front.

MaltaBulb, 2009 A Tribute to Maltese Buses. [online] (2013) Available at: http://www.maltabulb.com/maltese-buses.html [13th May 2015]. 

vassallomalta.com, Maltese Public Transport. [online]  Available at: https://vassallohistory.wordpress.com/maltese-public-transport-since-1856-a-brief-history-of-the-public-transport-in-malta-the-omnibus-up-to-the-mid-1800s-the-only-means-of-human-transport-w/ [13th May 2015]. 

Traditional Games

'Dawra durella' is a Maltese rhyme, that children used to sing while going round hand in hand, and when the rhyme ends, they all sit down.

'Il-bocci', this game is played with marbles, small marbles and one large marble that is called 'il-mamma', the small once are placed in a row, and the big one in front of them. Each player throw a marble, if he/she hits one marble he/she takes it and if the player hits the big marble, the player takes all of the marbles.

Another game that is played by children is 'Iz-Zunzana ddur iddur'. For this game there's no limit of players, the players must sit down on the floor in a circle shape facing each other, and one of them standing up behind them with a soft ball in his hand, running around the players while they sing the song, when the song ends, the standing player needs to hit a player on the back with the ball, the player who now have the ball is now the hunter that needs to catch the bee. The one that is the bee needs to run until finds the left space by the hunter, and sits, but if the bee is caught, the hunter returns back to his place and the game continues.

I compared an African game with a Maltese game 'il-bocci' and 'Iz-zibeg' that is played by girls, by throwing coloured beads in a hole, each colour bead have different points.

The African game is called Mancala and Ayo, where they use pebbles and holes. This game is very popular with African people and mostly children. This game begins by throwing a pebble in the air and before the thrown pebble is caught, the players by their turn, pick up as many pebbles as possible from a bowl. When all pebbles are collected, the player with most pebbles is the winner.

Nowadays Maltese children have technologic games, online games to play with, and the traditional once are almost forgotten, unlike Africans, as technology isn't yet arrived, their traditional games are still be played by Africans children.

African games, 2010. African games. [online] (2015) Available at:http://www.child-sponsorship.com/african_games.html [13th May 2015]. 

Valletta Waterfront, 2013. Traditional Maltese games. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/VallettaWaterfront/posts/499032413468960 [13th May 2015]. 

Whats on Malta, 2015. Brilli - A traditional Maltese game. [online] Available at: http://www.whatson.com.mt/en/home/events/7632/brilli---a-traditional-maltese-game.htm [13th May 2015]. 

Kids web Japan. Kendama. [online] Available at: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/kendama/kendama02.html [13th May 2015]. 

Maltese Traditional Lace ( Il-Bizzilla)

Lace in Malta and Gozo was first introduced in the mid 1800's by two people, but lacemaking in Malta and Gozo origins go back to the Knights of Malta period, Maltese islands where ruled by the Knights of St. John from 1530 till 1798.

Lady Hamilton Chichester was the one who sent lacemakers from Genoa to Malta, where they developed the technique of the Italian bobbin lace

Princess Elizabeth (Later Queen Elizabeth II)
visiting local lacemakers in Sannat, Gozo.

A lace maker

The Maltese lace was even shown at The Great Exhibition of 1851, and from their Maltese lace became popular in Britain.
The English Midlands lace makers copied the style, and this was one of the sources for Bedfordshire lace.

The Great Exhibition 1851

Designer, Dun Guzepp Diacono was the promoter in Gozo, for local families, that made lace makers a way of raising their standards. This introduction was before the Maltese and Gozitan lace developed it's own style from lace on the continent.

Flat fiber "Trajbu"
and "Combini"

Lace bookmark

"Trajbu"

 One can recognize the Maltese and Gozitan lace from its creamy, honey coloured, Spanish silk from which most of it is made. Until the 20th century was used black silk, until it declined in fashion, so nowadays is harder to find black lace.

Black lace

A feature is even one of the recognizable traits in Maltese and Gozitan lace that is the 8 pointed Maltese cross, but it's not found in all laces. This cross is done in whole or cloth stitch.

Maltese 8 pointed cross in the middle

Another recognizable features are the leaves known as "wheat ears" or "oats". Compared to the long narrow Bedfordshire lace leaves, the Maltese/Gozitan once are rounded in shape.

"Wheat ears" or "Oats" (leaves)

Bedfordshire lace is sometimes compared with the Maltese lace, they have some similarities and were both probably developed from the Genoese's bobbin lace.

Maltese lace

Genoese bobbin lace

Bedfordshire lace

The difference between the Maltese and Genoese lace is that the Maltese lace has more fluid styles and the Genoese lace has more geometric shapes and without the swirl, that are used in Gozitan lace.

Maltese lace parasols (umbrellas)

Malta bulb, 2009. The Maltese lace club. [online] 2013 Available at:http://www.maltabulb.com/malta-lace-club.html [14th May 2015]. 

Maltese lace.eu, 2012. Lace history. [online] Available at: http://www.malteselace.eu/Lace_History/Lace_History.html [14th May 2015]. 

Maltese History and Heritage. Maltese crafts. [online]  Available at: https://vassallohistory.wordpress.com/maltese-crafts/ [14th May 2015]. 

Maltese Traditional Clock

"Arlogg tal lira"

These Maltese traditional clocks, decorated houses of Maltese nobility as far back as the 17th century.

These clocks are nicknamed "Arlogg tal lira".

Maltese Traditional Clock

These clocks are made out of wood, suitable to take on several layers of gypsum, and then engraved and decorated with gold. The clock decorations can be customized by the client likes, the colour of the flowers, the type of flowers painted and the middle scenery that is found behind the ornate hands.

This clock can be made either hanging or table clock. Today, these original Maltese clocks are collectors' items, and they're very hard to find. They are very high in price, about thousands of euros.

The most popular colours used for the Maltese clock are green, black and maroon.

I combined the Maltese traditional clock with the Japanese traditional clock. The Japanese clock functions with two separate foliot balances allowing the clock to run at two different speeds to indicate unequal hours.

18th Century Japanese Traditional Clock

The Japanese clock is made to tell traditional Japanese time. These were introduced into Japan by Jesuit missionaries or Dutch merchants in the 16th Century. These clocks where made out of brass or iron.

The Maltese clock and the Japanese clock both are decorated with gold colour but with a difference, the Maltese one is made out of wood and the Japanese out of brass or iron. Japanese clock is designed to rest on a stand that resembles a bell tower or fire watchtower.

Clocks in Japan have existed since the mid-7th Century in the form of water clocks.

Maltese History and Heritage. Maltese crafts. [online]  Available at: https://vassallohistory.wordpress.com/maltese-crafts/ [14th May 2015].

Maltese clocks, 2012. The Maltese Gilded Clock. [online] 2012 Available at: http://malteseclocks.comze.com/ [14th May 2015]. 

The Seiko Museum, 2015. Japanese traditional clocks. [online] Available at: http://museum.seiko.co.jp/en/collections/collect4.html [14th May 2015]. 

Japan clock and watch association, 2015. The world of Japanese traditional clocks. [online] Available at: http://www.jcwa.or.jp/en/etc/wadokei.html [14th May 2015]. 

Link To View PowerPoint Presentation:
Maltese Folklore PowerPoint Presentation