Ask anyone you meet and chances are they will confirm they have relatives overseas, and, increasingly, more and more grandchildren. It is a fact, however, that we know very little about these grandchildren, except that they are cute and fast-growing.
A recent survey conducted under the aegis of the Maltese Community Council of Victoria has delved into the lives of these Maltese-background children to investigate who they are, and to what extent they still belong to our Maltese culture.
The first thing that strikes us is that the majority (two-thirds) of these children result from mixed marriages. In just over half, only the mother has a Maltese background, and in another 17 per cent, the father.
As might be imagined, this is one of the problems in maintaining one’s background culture, seeing that the non-Maltese side of the family also has an equal right to clamour to maintain their culture.
One obvious result is that these children have all but lost their Maltese language. Just three per cent of children said they spoke Maltese fluently. Another two-thirds said they could speak a little, which presumably means they can understand some words spoken by grandparents, but certainly have little ability to carry on a conversation.
Attempts by various organisations, including the community council, to organise teaching of Maltese only serve to attract a small minority of these children: just three per cent said they attended Maltese classes.
The fact that Maltese classes are only available as an extracurricular activity (in the evenings or on Saturdays), may be one reason for poor attendance. One participant actually recommended that Maltese classes be integrated in the school curriculum, a practice that used to take place when their parents were of school age.
We were also interested to see if other aspects of culture were being eroded. Among these was church attendance, which, of course, has been a pillar of Maltese culture for centuries.
As in Malta, we find that church attendance has dropped quite considerably: only one-third (35 per cent) said they attended Mass regularly on Sundays. The other two-thirds said they attended on special occasions (weddings, baptisms, etc…). It is debatable as to how much this is due to culture loss, and how much is the result of the western trend to secularisation.
There is one aspect of Maltese culture, which is flourishing with undiminished vigour – food
On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that these young children still have close contact with the Maltese islands. Many of them (over one-third) have visited the island, some on several occasions.
Most children have a reasonable idea of the geography of Malta, its small size, the Grand Harbour, the city of Valletta, the Gozo ferry, the history, dating back to the Phoenicians, the Knights of Malta and particularly World War II, and the fact it was heavily bombed (including the bomb hitting the Mosta church and ‘miraculously’ not exploding).
They have heard of the George Cross and the bravery of the Maltese. But above all, they know Malta as a great place to visit in summer, when it is warm, has wonderful beaches and in general, a place where you can have a good time.
One said: “When I finish school I am going back with some of my Aussie friends so they can experience the culture.” Another plans to “visit all the old buildings where nannu and nanna used to live”. It would appear there is great scope to encourage this potential source of future young tourists.
But if there is one aspect of Maltese culture that is flourishing with undiminished vigour it is that relating to food. Every single participant extolled the quality of Maltese food. They all like pastizzi, ravioli, rabbit stew, and macaroni, which seem to be staple foods among Maltese-Australians, not to mention some ‘exotic’ foods like stuffat tal-qarnit, qaqoċċ mimli, stuffed calamari and other delicacies.
So if there is some element of our culture that is guaranteed to last for several generations it is the Maltese cuisine, which seems to have a very bright future indeed.
As I have had occasion to mention in the past, the descendants of Maltese living in Australia would consider themselves to be primarily Australians, and if they grow up to be similar to their parents, they are very likely to consider themselves Maltese-Australians. It is also realistic to expect that the Maltese language will not survive after the current cohort of Malta-born Maltese has passed away.
However, I am very confident that elements of Maltese culture will remain for several generations. It is this aspect that we should particularly encourage; an aspect that is enriching to both these young citizens and to Malta itself.
mnc25@optusnet.com.au