There’s something about Malta – something more than just a picturesque, sunny Mediterranean tourist location. The smallest country in the EU, this three- island nation of just 315 square km has been independent since 1964, but it has a strong and complex cultural and historical identity.
Picturesque Malta
Both Catholicism and Islam have made a strong impression on Malta and the results are striking and enduring.
The three main islands that compose Malta, (Malta, Gozo and Comino), are, like the holy trinity itself: steeped in Christianity. Catholicism is effervescent on the islands or at least it was to me, when I spent a week in Gozo and watched the churchgoers parade past my window on Sunday morning. Hardly surprising, given as today, 98 % of the Maltese consider themselves practicing Catholics.
Catholic Soldiers Leave their Mark on Malta
Since the Stone Age, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs, have passed through Malta, although the strongest influence was left by the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St John.
These Catholic soldiers tended wounded and diseased soldiers during the Crusades, but soon began picking fights with the unfaithful. After being expelled from the Jerusalem by the Turks in 1291 and from Rhodes, where they rallied against Islam, Emperor Charles V allowed them to relocate and settle in Malta.
In 1565, the Knights were besieged for a month by the Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent but eventually fended Islam off once again. The Maltese capital La Valletta is said to have emerged after the Turkish besiege, when grand master John de la Valletta, decided to build a small fortress in the peninsula site of the San Elmo fortress.
The Maltese cross is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the Knights of Malta.
These days, The Maltese Cross, symbol of the Order of Knights of St John is found in literally every shop window in Malta!
Arguably Arab in Name and Nature
But Malta is also essentially Arab – Maltese is the only Arab language written in Roman letters, a byproduct of the Arab occupation, from 870 to 1091. City and street names often sound inherently Arabic – take for instance Mdina, the old capital city of Malta (also known as the Silent City).
Today Malta may be one of the world’s most Catholic countries but it retains its Arab influence and customs. The “Eye of Allah” is still painted on both sides of the prow on all the Maltese fishing boats…
