Rapid change has become part of our daily life today. This means many traditional aspects of life in Malta are swiftly changing and sometimes being transformed beyond recognition. One of these is the Maltese village as we knew it.
One of the most beautiful aesthetic sights in a Maltese village is the traditional farmhouse, the razzett. Today, however, a good number of Maltese farmhouses are not used for farming but solely as family residences and for tourism. Instead of the maqjel for animals, one finds rooms to accommodate people and, in the middle of the adjacent courtyard, today one usually finds a swimming pool.
This lucrative business of converting farmhouses for residential and touristic purposes has its positive side because some beautiful examples of conversion can be seen in most Maltese villages and a converted farmhouse is much more preferable to an ugly block of flats, for instance.
The building industry is, however, one of the greatest threats to the Maltese countryside and, therefore, the kind of village life we grew accustomed to in the past is now under threat of extinction. It is a fact of life that, due to overdevelopment, some Maltese villages are now fast down the road to becoming mostly urbanised. I was recently passing through a “village” where only a very small number of fields remain and where a small patch of grass with a model of the traditional girna (small stone hut) seems to be a monument to the predominantly rural character of the old village that no longer exists.
The decline of agriculture in the Maltese economy means the vast majority of village dwellers today have a full-time job away from the fields. The typical life of a villager in the past – waking up early to start working in the fields and going to sleep early to preserve one’s strength for the hard toil of the day after – is now part of history. The few workers in the fields today (where these still exist) are there on a strictly part-time basis, usually a couple of hours in the evening and a longer period during the weekend.
It is heartening to note that lace making, bizzilla, is still very much alive in the villages of Malta and Gozo. Throughout a long period of Maltese history, lace making has been a source of income for Maltese villagers. The problem here lies in the fact that the quality of some of the products is rather low. The Malta Lace Guild is doing its utmost to raise the quality of the Maltese lace being produced. Guilds president Margaret Crocker has stated there is a lot of cheap rubbish being sold on the tourist market. This is rather preoccupying.
Where the Maltese village has not changed much with the passage of time is in its social aspect. Today, the festa remains the landmark event of the calendar year in each and every village and the band clubs retain their magnetic pull on the male population, especially as a base for social interaction.
Likewise, the village market remains a fascinating local attraction, especially for females.
However, even in the mode of social interaction, change has left its mark.
Traditional aspects of village interaction have either been totally eradicated or are fast declining in importance. For instance, folk singing, which used to attract so many young male villagers in the past, is fast taking a backseat to discos. Wine bars, the traditional meeting place of adult males, have survived mostly thanks to the ingenuity of their owners who have transformed many of them into places where one can watch football games on big screens.
Perhaps, what has really ruined the beauty of Maltese villages is the increase in noise pollution. Unfortunately, we Maltese are renowned for being noisy people. Our villages are no exception. In the past, it was common to enter a village square and find a number of old-timers sitting peacefully chatting on a bench in an atmosphere of tranquillity, which seemed timeless. Today, one is more likely to find a number of youths in sports cars with their car stereo at full volume. Likewise, as everywhere else in Malta, villages are not immune to the number of panel beaters, sprayers, carpenters, etc., operating illegally out of garages in strictly residential areas.
The traditional Maltese village is a national patrimony. It is refreshing to note that local councils are doing their utmost to preserve several aspects of village life and to revive what has recently been lost. As citizens, we should do our best to support such initiatives. Otherwise, the fast pace, noise and gloom of urbanisation will destroy forever these oases of peace and tranquillity which were once our Maltese villages.