"Familial and Common Graves
When a person dies in Malta they end up either in a family
or a communal grave. Family graves are seen as more
respectable. Common graves (qabar komuni) are for people
of a lower socio-economy class (it costs 200 euro/1000
Maltese pounds for a family grave), or for those who are not
religious (Galea 2011). A family grave will normally have
compartments for four or five coffins, but it can hold up to
six bodies. There is space below for bones, which are put
into plastic bags during “cleaning” by cemetery workers
(Sean 2011). In the past flour bags were used instead. Each
set of bones is then put into a box which is stored in the
family grave. The boxes used to be wooden or tin, but now
they use plastic (Victor 2011; and Vincent 2011).
From the Hypogeum to the catacombs, communal graves
have been a part of Maltese history. Graves of this nature
seem to make the most sense in urbanized areas where
space creates an issue. Although this is the case in cities
such as Valetta, it does not apply to all of Malta, and is even
less relevant in Gozo. It must therefore hold importance
in the collective conscious of the people. One explanation
is that a burial of this nature delivers the dead from “the
isolation in which he was plunged since his death, and
reunites his body with those of his ancestors” (Hertz
1960:54). Hertz is referring to a body’s transition from a
temporary to a final burial place, but I believe that this is
also relevant when discussing communal, at least familial,
burials. Common graves may not be as respected as family
graves because they contain the bodies of the poor and
secular, but it may also be a result of the subconscious
idea that the dead buried there are alone. This may be
why, after two years, the bones from common graves may
be removed and stored in crypts, or thrown down wells
located on the cemetery grounds, while the bones from
family graves cannot. "
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