FOLKLORE IS STILL ALIVE
by Anton F. Attard
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Gozitan folklore is not just something of the past. It is still alive. We still have our own festivals in honour of our patron saints. The characteristic elements of these Festas are band marches, fireworks, very often of a very high standard, the parade with the statue of the patron saint, the horse-races, the religious procession and the concluding band marches with much fun and merry-making.

The mid-August feast of Santa Marija has, in addition, an accompanying Agricultural and Industrial Show, which may have originated from the fruit and vegetable fair which several centuries ago used to be held along the street leading to the Citadel.

Saint Gregory's Day (12th March) and its penitential procession was in the past an important date on the Gozitan religious and cultural calen-dar, but it is not longer celebrated since it was suppressed due to parochial feuds and litigation. But a number of traditional folk-fairs have survived, including those at id-Dwejra, at l-Ghadira ta' Sarraflu, within the Citadel, at Marsalforn and other parts of the Island.

The Gozitan community does its best to keep alive certain typically Gozitan traditional crafts such as lace-making, weaving, extraction of salt from sea-water, cane-work, hat-making, stone-carving, bee-keeping and the extraction of honey, rope-making, extracting of orange water from the blossoms ofcitrus trees, wine-making, fishing, baking bread and other Gozitan traditional dishes in old village bakeries, and other old crafts of the Island.

CONCLUSION

This chapter has only touched upon a few items of Gozitan folklore, and space constraint does not permit the coverage of other matters such as marriage customs, proverbs and riddles, the pottery industry, Christmas, local designs for different uses, street niches and other devotional items, and so on.

It should be emphasised that by studying Gozo's folklore one would not be studying only Gozo's past - but also the living Gozo. Times have changed and are still changing. Nowadays we see boys wearing earrings and long hair, girls wearing all revolutionary styles and fashions, they drive cars, go to the disco and dance all night long to noisy music. This is modern folklore, the living folklore of our times and Folklorists should observe and study it, so as to leave their findings in writing and in pictures for posterity.

REFERENCES

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(This study was published in Gozo and It's Culture  published by Formatek Ltd, Malta
in collaboration with the University of Malta Gozo Centre and the Foundation for International Studies)
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