| Il-Gawgaw
In the past, December 24 was considered
a most unfavorable day for birth. According to a superstitious
belief which lingered on among the Maltese up to the end of
the 19th century, persons who were born on Christmas Eve were
to be transformed into a ghost called "il-Gawgaw".
This had to happen only once a year, on this day, while these
persons were asleep. In the form of a "Gawgaw", they
wandered about frightening people with their groaning. Children
were told that if they misbehaved, the "Gawgaw" would
kidnap them and take them far far away in a distant land, where
they would die of hunger and loneliness.
Towards dawn the
persons transformed in a "Gawgaw" returned home exhausted.
By the time they woke up in the morning they would have resumed
their human form, quite unaware of their nocturnal peregrinations.
The remedy against this transformation consisted in inducing
the sufferer to sit up all night and to count the holes of a
sieve from eleven o' clock at night to the following Christmas
morning.
Saint
Paul's Grotto
According to a legend, the Grotto
of St. Paul in Rabat, Malta remains the same size in spite
of the fact that people remove pieces of rock from this cave
as souvenirs.
Another legend
in connection with St. Paul says that when he was preaching
at Burmarrad, his voice carried as far away as Gozo where the
people there flocked on the coast to hear his sermon.
Saint
Paul and the Venomous Viper
This is perhaps the most well known
legend in Malta. This legend is also written down in the Holy
Bible, in the chapters regarding the shipwreck of St. Paul and
his stay in Malta. It is believed that when St. Paul was gathering
wood to make a fire to warm himself and the other shipwrecked
people, a venomous viper sprang out of the sticks and bit him.
The Maltese, who were very superstitious at the time, expected
him to die of poisoning but instead no harm happened to him.
It is said that from that day snakes and scorpions in Malta
became quite harmless and non-poisonous.
The
Legend of Ghajn Razul
It is believed that the spring known as Ghajn Razul, in the
areas of Burmarrad, was the work of St. Paul who needed water
for his shipmates after their shipwreck on Malta. The name ‘Razul’
is derived from the Phoenician language and means ‘apostle’,
thus giving more credibility to the Pauline connection. Of more
importance is the fact that if this was truly the work of St.
Paul it would point to his shipwreck being in St. Paul's Bay
and not at Mistra where there was another spring.
Treasure
at Fort Ricasoli
The Maltese ghost is often referred
to as "il-hares" (pl. "ihirsa"), perhaps
a relative of the Roman "Lares" (household gods).
Once, a "hares" in the form of a Turk, awakened a
workman at Fort Ricasoli (by the Grand Harbor) and told him
of a big treasure within the fort area. This workman told one
of his colleagues and together they went to look at the indicated
spot. They found a lot of coal coins. As in other local folk
tales the coins were turned to coal. The following night the
"hares" reappeared and beat up the workman for sharing
the secret. The moral of this legend is: What the "hares"
tells you is for your eyes only!
Tal-Maqluba
This legend says that where today
lies the area known as "tal-Maqluba", just south of
the Maltese village of Qrendi, there once was an evil village.
The people were so bad that God punished them by opening the
ground and the whole village was swallowed by the earth. The
opening in the ground stopped exactly in front a chapel, which
is still present just by the edge of this enormous hole which
is around 50 meters in circumference and around 40 meters deep. |
