Wayside Shrine - Malta

Flowers for the Saints and the departed

© Godric Godricson

Faith and belief are well understood in Malta. This island, so deeply imbued with  Catholicism, is comfortable with the wayside shrine and Flowers for the saints and for the dead. The communities remember both the saints and their family in a joyous combination under the sunshine. This is a beautiful island and the people are marvellous.

Monuments and Latin

© Godric Godricson

The cemetery is a place where we 'monumentalise' the dead and record their positive virtues to the exclusion of all other traits. The dead become glorious and good and their weakness is forgotten and minimised. We make the cemetery into a place where the family and the community are re-united at least for a time in marble and, often, in a Latin that we no longer speak

Cultic centre

© Godric Godricson

In this blog I'll return to the idea of the cemetery as being a site of special significance for the community and also for individuals.  I will also return to the idea of the monuments for the dead as being 'cultic' centres for the living. Such places are where the living and the dead come together and have a sort of communion. We see the integration of a belief in the saints with the memorial of the dead and an association with living communities. The Maltese  have these shrines all over the place in a positive and happy way. Such places are not gloomy and, instead, they are joyous.

Shrine

© Godric Godricson

The Maltese people have a way of marking the passing of the dead with a dignity that is hard to surpass. They acknowledge the passing of the dead and at the same time they live their own lives in the hot Mediterranean sunlight. They are not a melancholy people and they incorporate the sadness of death with the happiness of this world. the flowers on shrines and monuments are bright and joyful and integrated into a lively existence. The wayside shrines are a way of remembering the dead and a way of remembering the saints.